9 


REPORT 


OF  THE 


COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH 


OF  THE 


TOON  THE 


SANITARY  CONDITION  OF  THE  CITY. 


PUBLISHED,  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT,  BY  ORDER  OF  THE 
COUNCIL  OF  THE  CITIZENS'  ASSOCIATION. 


SECOND  EDITION. 


NEW  YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND  COMPANY, 

443  &  445  BKOADWAY. 
1866. 


riven 

en 


Ekteeed,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S65,  by 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of 

New  York. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.  Introductory  Statement  by  the  Council  of  the  Citizens'  Association  vii 

FIRST  PART. 

II.  Minute  of  Resolutions  by  tue  Council  of  Hygiene,  submitting  the 

Report  to  the  Citizens'  Association   xx 

HI.  Copy  of  Resolution  by  the  Citizens'  Association,  accepting  the  Re- 
tort AND  ORDERING  IT  TO  BE  PUBLISHED   XX 

IV.  Special  Report  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Council  : — A 

Sketch  of  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Sanitary  Survey  of  the  City  xxi 

1.  Boundaries  and  Distribution  of  the  Sanitary  Inspection  Dis- 

tricts  xxii 

2.  Instructions  to  the  Sanitary  Inspectors   xxiv 

3.  The  System  of  Daily  Records   xxvi 

4.  Subjects  of  Inquiry   xxvii 

5.  Reports  on  Pestilential  Diseases   xxviii 

6.  Progress  of  the  Survey  xxx-xxxv 

V.  General  Report  of  the  Council: — 

1.  Preliminary  Statement — Purposes  of  Sanitary  Inquiry   xxxvii 

2.  Sanitary  Necessities  of  Great  Cities   x xxviii 

3.  The  Aggregation  of  Population  in  Towns  and  Cities   xxxviii 

4.  Avoidable  and  Preventable  Causes  of  Disease  and  Death . . .  xxxix 

5.  Rates  of  Inevitable  Sickness  and  Mortality   xl 

6.  Standards  of  Health   '  xli 

fl.  The  Study  of  Sickness-rates   xlii 

8.  Rates  of  Constant  Sickness  in  the  City  of  New  York   xliii 

9.  The  Death-rate  in  New  York   xliv 

10.  Preventable  Causes  of  Disease   xlvii 

11.  The  Association  of  the  External  and  the  Personal  Causes  of 

Disease  illustrated   xlix 

12.  Examples  of  Preventable  Diseases  and  their  Causes   1 

13.  Specific  Causes  of  Preventable  Diseases  illustrated  by  the 

History  of  Typhus-fever  in  the  City,  and  by  the  spread  of 

Small-pox  from  the  City  to  the  Country   Ivi 

14.  Recommendations  concerning  the  Control  of  Contagions  and 

Infections   lxi 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

15.  The  Localizing  Causes  of  Prevailing  Diseases   lxii 

16.  Recommendations  by  the  Council  for  maintaining  a  System 

of  Sanitary  Inspection  and  Inquiry   lxvii 

17.  The  Tenant-Houses  of  New  York   lxviii 

18.  Tenant-Houses  and  their  Inhabitants   lxix 

19.  Statistics  of  Aggregation  in  New  York  compared  with  those 

of  other  great  Cities   lxxi 

20.  Observations  upon  the  Sickness  and  Mortality  in  Tenant- 

Houses   lxxiv 

21.  Dwelling  Improvements — Examples  and  Recommendations. .  lxxxvi 

22.  Sanitary  Wants  of  Private  Dwellings,  Hotels,  and  Public 

Conveyances   lxxxix 

23.  Neglected  Privies  and  Dark  Places   xci 

24.  Special  Nuisances   xcii 

25.  Drainage  and  Sewerage  of  the  City   xcvi 

26.  Special  Application  of  Chemistry  and  other  Sciences  to  San- 

itary Works   xcviii 

27.  Special  Report  by  Professors  John  W.  Draper  and  R.  O. 

Doremus  upon  the  Hygienic  Applications  of  Chemistry. . .  xcix 

28.  The  Practical  Character  of  Sanitary  Works   civ 

29.  Prevalent  Diseases  which  illustrate  the  Necessity  of  Sanitary 

Works   cv 

30.  Fevers   cv 

31.  Diarrhoeal  Maladies   cviii 

32.  Small-pox — Vaccination   cx 

33.  Examples  of  Sanitary  Works  and  Results   cxiii 

34.  Prospective  View  of  the  Sanitary  Necessities  of  New  York. .  cxix 

35.  Practical  Uses  of  Vital  Statistics   exxi 

36.  Remedial  Measures   exxv 

37.  Cleanliness  and  the  Removal  of  Nuisances   exxviii 

38.  Ventilation  and  the  Prevention  of  Overcrowding   exxix 

39.  Sanitary  Care  of  Contagious  and  Pestilential  Diseases   exxxv  - 

40.  Conclusions   cxiii 


SECOND  PART. 


VI.  Reports  op  toe  Sanitary  Inspectors  : — 

1.  Catalogue  of  Inspectors  and  their  Inspection  Districts  

2.  First  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  Joseph  A.  Moncll's  Report  3 
8.  Second  Sanitary  Inspection  District;  Dr.  Isaac  L.  Millspaugh's 

Report   14 

4.  Third  Sanitary  Inspection  District  [Section  A] ;  Dr.  Hampton 

Harriot's  Report   1° 

B.  Third  Sanitary  Inspection  District  [Section  B] ;  Dr.  B.  M.  Kccncy's 

Report   88 

6.  Fourth  Sanitary  Inspection  District;  Dr.  E.  R.  Pulling's  Report.. .  48 


CONTENTS. 


V 


PAGE 

7.  Fifth  Sanitary  Inspection  District  [Section  A]  ;  Dr.  E.  B.  Warner's 

Report    66 

8.  Fifth  Sanitary  Inspection  District  [Section  B]  ;  Dr.  J.  W.  Purdy's 

Report   70 

9.  Sixth  Sanitary  Inspection  District;  Dr.  Wm.  F.  Thorns'  Report..  73 

10.  Seventh  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  P.  Nolan's  Report. ...  85 

11.  Eighth  Sanitary  Inspection  District;  Dr.  J.  T.  Kennedy's  Report  91 

12.  Ninth  Sanitary  Inspection  District;  Dr.  Oscar  G.  Smith's  Report  97 

13.  Tenth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  John  C.  Acheson's  Report  110 

14.  Eleventh  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  James  L.  Brown's  Re- 

port   116 

15.  Twelfth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  F.  A.  Burrall's  Report.  126 

16.  Thirteenth  Sanitary  Inspection  District;  Dr.  Robert  Newman's 

Report   142 

17.  Fourteenth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  E.  W.  Derby's  Re- 

port   165 

18.  Fifteenth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  James  Ross's  Report.  171 

19.  Sixteenth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  Wm.  C.  Hunter's  Re- 

port   182 

20.  Seventeenth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  Guido  Furman's 

Report   195 

21.  Eighteenth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  H.  M.  Field's  Re- 

port   206 

22.  Nineteenth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  J.  R.  Mansfield's 

Report   221 

23.  Twentieth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  E.  H.  Janes's  Report  226 

24.  Twenty-first  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  James  L.  Little's 

Report   253 

25.  Twenty-second  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  R.  L.  Parsons's 

Report   268 

26.  Twenty-third  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  Ellsworth  Eliot's 

Report   282 

27.  Twenty-fourth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  Robert  Stewart's 

Report   291 

28.  Twenty-fifth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  J.  Lewis  Smith's 

Report   298 

29.  Twenty-sixth  and  Twenth-seventh  Sanitary  Inspection  Districts  ; 

Drs.  Hadden  and  Brush's  Report   323 

30.  Twenty-eighth  Sanitary  Inspection  District ;  Dr.  L.  A.  Rodenstein's 

Report   335 

31.  Twenty-ninth  Sanitary  Inspection  District;  Dr.  Joseph  O.  Far- 

rington's  Report   345 

VII.  Synopsis  of  Tenant-House  Statistics   849 

Vm.  Index   351 


VI  CONTENTS. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

1.  Sanitary  and  Topographical  Map  of  the  City  and  Island  of  New  York. 

Lithograph,  colored. 

2.  Engraving  from  a  Photographic  View  of  a  Newly-Constructed  Fever-Nest 

in  the  Sixth  District   facing  p.  lxxvi 

3.  Engraving  from  a  Photographic  View  of  "  Gotham  Court "  (illustrating 

Chapter  on  Tenant-Houses)   lxxx 

4.  Floor-Plan  of  a  Fever-Nest  near  the  Central  Park   lxxxi 

5.  Mr.  Waterlow's  Plan  of  Healthy  Tenant-Dwellings  facing  p.  lxxxvi 

6.  A  Chart  illustrating  the  Encroachment  of  Nuisances  upon  Populous  Up- 

Town  Districts  facing  p.  xciv 

7.  Engraving  from  a  Photographic  View  of  a  Fever-Nest  in  the  First  Ward. .  facing  p.  8 

8.  Map  illustrating  the  Hydrography,  Drainage  and  Sewerage,  and  the  Medi- 

cal Topography  of  the  Third  District.      Lithograph,  colored.  . . .  facing  p.  21 

9.  Chart  of  a  Region  of  Typhus  and  Small-pox  in  the  Fifth  Ward   31 

10.  Sanitary  and  Social  Chart  of  the  Fourth  District.    Lithograph,  colored. ...  43 

11.  Ground-Plan  of  "Gotham  Court" — its  Drainage  and  Crowding.   50 

12.  Sectional  Elevation  of  the  main  building  in  Do   60 

13.  Floor-Plan  of  the  domiciles  in  Do   51 

14.  Transverse  Sectional  Views  of  Do   63 

15.  Chart  of  a  Crowded  Mass  of  Tenant-Houses  on  Vandc water  Street   57 

16.  A  Sectional  View  of  a  Fever-Nest  on  Pearl  Street   78 

17.  Ground-Plan  of  Do   70 

18.  An  Upper  Floor-Plan  of  Do   79 

19.  View  of  a  Public  School  and  an  adjacent  Slaughter-Pen  facing  p.  87 

20.  Chart  of  a  Region  of  Fat-melting,  Hide-curing,  and  Slaughter  Nuisances  in 

the  shopping  neighborhood  of  the  7th  District   88 

21.  Plan  and  Sectional  View  of  a  Fever-nest  in  the  9th  District   103 

22.  Floor-Plan  of  an  Improved  Tenant-House  in  the  11th  District   122 

23.  Map  Illustrating  the  Medical  Topography  and  Drainage  of  the  15th  Ward.  126 

24.  Plan  and  Sectional  Views  of  an  Overcrowded  Tenant-House  in  the  12th 

District   136 

25.  Diagram  of  an  Insalubrious  Quarter  in  the  13th  District   152 

26.  An  Inside  View  of  a  Cattle  and  Sheep  Market  in  Sixth  Street   157 

27.  Chart  of  an  Insalubrious  Court  and  a  Crowded  Square  in  the  17th  Ward. .  160 

28.  Market  and  Slaughter-Pens  in  the  11th  Ward   176 

29.  Scene  in  Rivington  Place   178 

30.  Tenant-House  Cellar  Nuisances  in  the  16th  Ward   198 

31.  Plan  of  a  Cellar  Tenement  in  the  16th  Ward   200 

32.  Floor  Plan  and  a  Sectional  View  of  a  Ventilated  Tenant-House   204 

33.  Map  illustrating  the  Medical  Topography  of  the  18th  District   207 

34.  Floor-Plan  of  a  Fever-Nest  in  Do   217 

35.  Plans  of  Dirt-Catchers  and  Cleaning  Chambers  for  Sewers   234,  235 

36.  Another  Plan  of  Do.,  and  of  a  Culvert   436 

37.  An  Isometrical  View  of  a  new  Fever-Nest  in  a  Crowded  Square   289 

38.  The  Ground-Plan  and  Chart  of  Do   239 

39.  Four  Figures  illustrating  Cubical  Air-Spaces  and  Ventilation   258 

40.  Floor-Plan  of  an  ordinary  and  unhealthy  Tenant-House  in  the  20th  Ward.  259 

41.  Floor-Plan  of  Tenant-House  with  Through-and-Tlirough  Ventilation   261 

42.  Floor-Plan  of  a  Tenant-House  with  Ventilating  Shaft   261 

43.  Chart  of  a  Region  of  Nuisances  in  the  20th  Ward   266 

44.  Ground-Plan  of  a  Fever-Nest  in  East  28th  Street   275 

45.  Diagram  of  a  Perpetual  Fever-Nest  in  the  21st  Ward   280 

46.  Plot  of  an  Insalubrious  District  in  the  21st  Ward   287 

47.  A  Bird's-eye  View  of  a  Rookery  at  the  foot  of  Murray  Hill   289 

48.  The  Ground-Plan  of  Do   289 

49.  Map  of  the  Sanitary  Topography  of  the  25th  District   299 

50.  Map  of  a  Pestilential  Spot  on  the  margin  of  the  Central  Park   816 

51.  Descriptive  Chart  of  an  Unhealthy  Neighborhood  near  the  Central  Park.. .  318 

62.  Improved  Garbage  Receptacles,  etc.,  for  Tenant-Houses  

63.  Map  illustrating  the  Medical  Topography  of  the  20th  District  facing  p.  227 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT 

BY  THE 

COUNCIL  OF  THE  CITIZENS'  ASSOCIATION. 


The  Citizens'  Association  oe  New  Yoek  was  organized 
for  purposes  of  public  usefulness.  The  deep  convictions  of 
duty  and  necessity  that  led  to  the  preparation  of  the  plans 
upon  which  this  Association  has  commenced  its  efforts, 
have  met  with  hearty  responses  from  all  classes  of  philan- 
thropic and  learned  men  whose  counsel  and  aid  have  been 
invoked  in  our  voluntary  work  of  municipal  reform  and 
public  improvement.  To  its  Council  of  Hygiene  and 
Public  Health,  and  to  its  Board  of  Legal  Advisers,  the 
Citizens'  Association,  and  the  City  of  New  York,  have  been 
placed  under  lasting  obligations,  for  labors  in  which  the 
greatest  professional  learning  and  skill,  combined  with  no- 
ble and  philanthropic  purposes,  and  individual  sacrifices 
of  time  and  personal  efforts,  have  been  voluntarily  contrib- 
uted for  the  single  object  of  promoting  the  welfare  of  the 
community,  and  benefiting  all  classes  in  the  city. 


viii 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT. 


The  Council  of  Hygiene  and  Public  Health  now 
presents  to  this  Association  its  first  General  Report  upon 
the  Sanitary  Condition  and  Hygienic  Wants  of  New  York : 
and  the  Centkal  Council  of  the  Association  has  ordered 
it  published  and  widely  circulated,  in  order  that  the  pub- 
lic may  immediately  have  access  to  this  valuable  source  of 
information  and  practical  suggestion. 

The  organization  and  efforts  of  the  Council  of  Hy- 
giene were  begun  very  soon  after  the  general  plan  of  the 
Citizens'  Association  was  announced.  The  advice  and 
knowledge  of  leading  hygienists  and  medical  gentlemen  of 
great  familiarity  with  the  social  and  sanitary  necessities 
of  the  people  of  this  City  were  sought,  and,  at  the  request 
of  the  Council  of  this  Association,  an  effective  organiza- 
tion for  Sanitary  Inquiry  and  Advice  was  instituted.  The 
necessity  that  exists  for  the  commencement  of  such  volun- 
tary labors  has  long  been  conceded  by  the  managers  of  be- 
nevolent institutions  in  the  city,  and,  from  this  and  other 
circumstances,  the  members  of  this  body  were  fully  pre- 
pared to  appreciate  the  practical  value  and  bearings  of 
such  work.  They  have  unhesitatingly  acted  upon  the  in- 
formation and  suggestions  which  their  Council  of  Hygiene 
has  rendered ;  and  they  desire  to  state  that  in  all  its  labors, 
suggestions,  and  advice,  that  Council  has  manifestly  been 
actuated  by  an  earnest  and  fearless  purpose  to  benefit 
mankind,  and  to  contribute  most  directly  to  the  physical 
and  moral  welfare  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Thus  its  plans 
have  entirely  harmonized  with  the  great  objects  of  the 
Citizens'  Association,  and  at  the  same  time  have  furnished 


ENTEODUCTOKY  STATEMENT. 


ix 


a  perfect  example  of  both  the  utility  and  the  necessity  of 
such  voluntary  effort. 

The  Works  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene  will  best  per- 
petuate the  history  of  its  organization ;  therefore  we  will 
simply  put  on  record  here  the  preliminary  correspondence, 
in  which,  without  any  purpose  of  organized  effort  and  co- 
operation, a  large  number  of  physicians,  who  are  distin- 
guished for  learning  and  experience  in  hygiene,  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  leading  facts  upon  which  the  argument  for 
Sanitary  Reform  is  based  by  this  Association. 

%\t  Citizens'  %mstx&iism  of  ifefo  guru, 

Office,  813  Broadway. 

New  Toek,  March  2d,  1864. 

To 

VALENTINE  MOTT,  M.  D.,  ISAAC  WOOD,  M.  D., 

WILLARD  PARKER,  M.  D.,  CHARLES  D.  SMITH,  M.  D., 

JAMES  R.  WOOD,  M.  D.,  E.  R.  PEASLEE,  M.  D., 

STEPHEN  SMITH,  M.  D.,  AUSTIN  FLINT,  M.  D., 

JOHN  H.  GRISCOM,  M.  D.,  FRANK  H.  HAMILTON,  M.  D., 

ISAAC  E.  TAYLOR,  M.  D.,  B.  FORDYCE  BARKER,  M.  D., 

ELISHA  HARRIS,  M.  D.,  THADDEUS  HALSTED,  M.  D., 

WM.  C.  ANDERSON,  M.  D.,  JARED  LINSLEY,  M.  D., 

EDWARD  DELAFIELD,  M.  D.,  J.  T.  METCALFE,  M.  D., 

JOSEPH  M.  SMITH,  M.  D.,  GURDON  BUCK,  M.  D., 

JOHN  0.  STONE,  M.  D.,  WM.  N.  BLAKEMAN,  M.  D., 

CHAS.  HENSCHEL,  M.  D.,  JAMES  ANDERSON,  M.  D. 

Deae  Sies: 

Our  Association  is  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  taking  active 
6teps  in  relation  to  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  our  City. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Citizens'  Association  of  New  York,  held  on  the  29th 
February,  ult.,  tho  undersigned  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  address  a  Letter 
to  Physicians,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  from  the  Medical  Profession  the 
fullest  and  most  reliable  information  relative  to  the  public  health.  Will  yon, 
at  your  earliest  convenience,  favor  us  with  the  desired  information  ? 

The  importance  of  this  subject  to  all  classes  can  scarcely  be  over-estimated, 


X 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT. 


as  from  the  evidence  already  before  this  Association  it  appears  that  the  excess 
of  mortality  is  needless  and  alarming. 
Very  respectfully,  yours, 

HAMILTON  FISH, 

JOHN  DAVID  WOLFE, 

EDWARD  S.  J  AFFRAY, 

JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR,  Jr., 

JAMES  M.  BROWN, 

JONATHAN  STURGES, 

ROBERT  B.  ROOSEVELT, 

AUGUST  BELMONT, 

CHARLES  O'CONOR, 

NATHANIEL  SANDS, 

CHARLES  A.  SECOR, 

MOKRIS  KETCHUM, 


Committee  appointed  at  a  Meeting 
of  the  Citizens'  Association  of 
New  York,  held  February  29, 
1864. 


New  Yobk,  March  9<A,  1S&1 


To  the  Committee  on  Sanitary  Inquiry, 
of  the  Citizens'  Association  of  New 


&c,  ) 
York.  ) 


Gentlemen: 

In  replying  to  your  letter  of  inquiry  requesting  information  concerning 
the  public  health  of  this  city,  we  would  briefly  state  a  few  leading  facts  relating 
to  the  rate  of  mortality  in  this  community,  and  also  refer  to  somo  of  the  con- 
ditions of  insalubrity  among  us. 

The  city  of  New  Vork  ought  to  be  one  of  the  most  healthy  cities  in  the 
world,  for  no  other  large  city  is  favored  with  greater  natural  advantages  of  lo- 
cality and  climate,  and  probably  no  city  has  a  greater  influx  of  a  vigorous  and 
healthy  population,  from  the  rural  districts  and  from  foreign  countries. 

But  a  fearfully  high  death-bate  prevails  in  this  city.  This  is  the  sure  cri- 
terion of  the  public  health,  and  it  is  the  most  reliable  test  of  the  sanitary  con- 
dition of  any  populous  community.  Extensivo  observation  proves  that  it  is  not 
difficult  to  stato  about  what  proportion  of  deaths  in  great  cities  may  properly 
bo  attributed  to  preventable  diseases,  and  consequently  what  may  be  properly 
regarded  as  a  necessary  and  inevitable  rate  of  mortality  in  such  a  population. 

Tbo  highest  medical  and  statistical  authorities  of  Europe  have  shown  tho 
propriety  and  importance  of  such  estimations  in  vital  statistics. 

Tho  total  number  of  deaths  in  tho  city  of  New  York,  during  tho  year  1803, 
according  to  tho  City  Inspector's  returns,  was  25,196 !  This  is  equal  to  one 
death  in  every  thirty-five  of  tho  inhabitants,  estimating  tho  population  of  tho 
city  last  year  at  900,000. 

According  to  Dr.  E.  M.  Snow,  tlio  distinguished  Health  Officer  of  Frovi- 


nSTXRODUCTOKY  STATEMENT. 


xi 


dence,  Rhode  Island,  the  mortality  in  the  following  sis  neighboring  cities, 
during  the  year  1863,  may  he  stated  as  follows : 

New  York  

Philadelphia  

Boston  

Newark,  N.  J  

Providence  

Hartford  


It  is  not  for  us  to  state  what  the  rate  of  mortality  in  New  York  should  have 
been,  under  proper  sanitary  regulations,  the  past  year,  hut  we  would  present  a 
few  facts  to  show  the  results  of  improvements  in  sanitary  government  of  great 
cities,  which,  with  natural  advantages  of  salubrity  far  inferior  to  those  of  New 
York,  have  been  rescued  from  a  condition  of  fearful  insalubrity,  and  rendered 
far  more  healthful  than  our  city  now  is. 


Estimated 

Deaths 

Of  Population, 

Population. 

1803. 

one  in 

900,000 

25,196 

35.7 

620,000 

14,220 

43.6 

194,000 

4,698 

41.2 

85,000 

1,952 

43.5 

55,000 

1,214 

45.3 

32,000 

583 

54.8 

Previous  to  establishing  a  good  Sanitary  Govern- 
ment, the  annual  rate  of  Mortality  was — 

In  London   1  in  20 

In  Liverpool   1  in  28 

In  Philadelphia   1  in  39 

In  New  York, 

At  present   1  in  35  + 

Do.,     average  of  last 

ten  years  1  in  32£ 


The  rate  of  Mortality  in  the  same  Cities,  with  the 
present  system  of  Sanitary  Government,  haa 
been — 

In  London   1  in  45 

In  Liverpool   1  in  44 

In  Philadelphia        1  in  44  to  1  in  57 

While  in  the  City  of  New  York  the  death- 
rate  has  increased  from  1  in  4G!-,  [in  the  year 
1S10,]  to  1  in  35,  at  the  present  time. 


Facts  like  these  should  arouse  the  attention  of  all  persons  who  feci  an  inter- 
est in  human  welfare,  or  in  the  prosperity  of  our  city.  Yet  we  would  point  to 
the  high  death-rate  that  prevails  in  the  city  simply  as  a  reliable  index  to  the 
physical  sufferings,  the  want,  the  neglect,  the  sickness,  the  orphanage  and  pau- 
perism, with  which  such  excessive  mortality  is  always  associated. 

The  fact  that  any  considerable  excess  of  mortality  above  a  proper  and  in- 
evitable death-rate,  arises  from  causes  that  may  and  should  be  prevented  by 
sanitary  regulations,  is  now  admitted  by  all  intelligent  physicians  and  social 
economists. 

By  means  of  suitable  sanitary  regulations,  and  a  faithful  and  competent  ad- 
ministration of  such  laws,  the  rate  of  mortality  in  this  city  ought  to  be  very 
greatly  reduced.  The  experience  of  other  great  cities,  and  the  teachings  of 
sanitary  science,  warrant  the  opinion  that  the  present  rate  of  mortality  may  be 
reduced  fully  thirty  per  cent.  Such  a  reduction  would  save  from  7,000  to 
10,000  lives  in  this  city  during  the  present  year.  But  the  saving  of  this  vast 
number  of  precious  lives  is  not  the  only,  nor  is  it  the  greatest,  benefit  that 


xii 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT. 


would  result  to  the  health  and  welfare  of  the  city  by  means  o  suitable  sanitary 
government. 

It  is  a  medical  and  statistical  fact  that  for  every  death  in  a  large  community 
there  are  at  least  twenty-eight  cases  of  sickness.  This  would  give,  in  the  popu- 
lation of  our  city,  upwards  of  two  hundred  thousand  cases  of  preventable  and 
needless  sickness  every  year  !  This  conclusion  is  fully  warranted  by  the  statistics 
of  our  public  charities,  and  by  medical  observation,  and  it  is  based  upon  broad 
inquiries  and  generalization  respecting  sickness  and  mortality  in  Great  Britain, 
as  stated  by  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair,  a  distinguished  authority  in  Hygiene. 

It  is  a  maxim  in  the  medical  profession  that  it  is  far  easier  to  prevent  disease 
than  to  cure  it,  and  it  certainly  is  far  more  economical  to  do  so.  And  when  we 
remember  that  the  great  excess  of  mortality  and  of  sickness  in  our  city  occurs 
among  the  poorer  classes  of  the  population,  and  that  such  excessive  unhealthi- 
ness  and  mortality  is  a  most  prolific  source  of  physical  and  social  want,  de- 
moralization and  pauperism,  the  subject  of  needed  sanitary  reforms,  in  this 
crowded  metropolis,  assumes  such  important  bearings  and  such  a  vast  magnitude 
as  to  demand  the  most  serious  consideration  of  all  persons  who  regard  the  wel- 
fare of  their  fellow-beings,  or  the  best  interests  of  the  community. 

We  need  not  represent  to  you  the  great  interest  which  every  other  city  and 
town  in  our  country  has  in  the  question  of  health  and  disease  in  this  great 
emporium  of  commerce ;  nor  need  we,  as  physicians,  speak  of  the  official  abuses 
that  prevent  sanitary  improvement  and  good  government.  When  pestilential 
diseases  visit  this  city,  the  impotence  of  the  existing  sanitary  system  is  confessed, 
and  the  people  are  panic-stricken,  while  the  interests  of  commerce  suffer  by  the 
insensible  and  certain  loss  of  millions. 

In  the  final  report  of  the  Aldermanic  Committee  on  Public  Ilealth,  of  which 
Ex-Gov.  E.  D.  Morgan  was  the  Chairman,  in  the  cholera  season  of  1849,  the 
fact  is  stated  that  "  New  York  is  destitute  of  a  Sanitary  Police  worthy  tho 
name."  Again,  the  chief  officer  of  the  so-called  Sanitary  Bureau  of  the  City 
Government,  in  his  annual  report  in  tho  year  1861,  asks :  "  How  is  this  state  of 
things,  which  marks  with  shame  the  great  City  of  Now  York,  to  bo  remedied?" 
And  he  answers :  "  Tho  power  of  remedy  docs  not  rest  in  me,  nor  in  tho  depart- 
ments over  wtich  I  havo  the  honor  to  preside." 

Small-pox,  and  other  infectious  and  loathsomo  diseases,  are  allowed  to  pro- 
vail  and  bo  diffused  continually  in  all  parts  of  tho  city ;  the  worst  causes  of 
fevers  and  other  fatal  maladies  are  being  continually  generated  in  tho  crowded 
habitations  of  tho  poor;  while  from  this,  as  a  radiating  centre  of  disease,  tho 
poisons  of  death  that  are  so  abundant  here,  are  diffused  widely  throughout  tho 
entire  country. 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT. 


xiii 


We  will  not  extend  this  statetnent,  but  would  conclude  by  saying  that  the 
eacredness  of  human  life  and  the  inestimable  value  of  health  are  incentives  that 
can  be  relied  upon  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  all  true  physicians  in  your  efforts 
to  promote  sanitary  reforms. 

Eespectfully,  yours, 

VALENTINE  MOTT,  M..D.,  1  Gramercy  Park. 

WILLARD  PARKER,  M.  D.,  37  East  12th  Street. 

ISAAC  WOOD,  M.  D.,  68  East  11th  Street. 

JAMES  R.  WOOD,  M.  D.,  2  Irving  Place. 

JAMES  ANDERSON,  M.  D.,  30  University  Place. 

JOHN  H.  GRISCOM,  M.  D.,  42  East  29th' Street. 

WM.  C.  ANDERSON,  M.  D.,  3  Union  Square. 

ISAAC  E.  TAYLOR,  M.  D.,  13  West  20th  Street. 

STEPHEN  SMITH,  M.  D.,  55  West  34th  Street. 

EDWARD  DELAFEELD,  M.  D.,  2  East  17th  Street 

ELISHA  HARRIS,  M.  D.,  55  West  34th  Street. 

JOSEPH  M.  SMITH,  M.  D.,  11  East  17th  Street. 

JOHN  0.  STONE,  M.  D.,  27  East  23d  Street. 

CHAS.  HENSCHEL,  M.  D.,  20  East  14th  Street. 

E.  R.  PEASLEE,  M.  D.,  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel. 

AUSTIN  FLINT,  M.  D.,  259  Fourth  Avenue. 

FRANK  H.  HAMILTON,  M.  D.,  Bellevue  Hosp.  Coll. 

CHAS.  D.  SMITH,  M.  D.,  20  West  19th  Street. 

B.  FORDYCE  BARKER,  M.  D.,  75  Madison  Ave. 

THADDECS  M.  HALSTED,  M.  D.,  42  West  23d  Street 

JARED  LINSLY,  M.  D.,  22  Lafayette  Place. 

J.  T.  METCALFE,  M.  D.,  34  East  14th  Street 

GURDON  BUCK,  M.  D.,  121  Tenth  Street. 

WM.  N.  BLAKEMAN,  M.  D.,  113  Tenth  Street. 

To  Hamilton  Fish,  Esq., 
John  David  Wolfe,  Esq., 
Edward  S.  Jaitray,  Esq., 
John  Jacob  Astor,  Jr.,  Esq., 
August  Belmont,  Esq., 
Charles  O'Conor,  Esq., 
Robert  B.  Roosevelt,  Esq., 
Charles  A.  Secor,  Esq., 
Jonathan  Sturges,  Esq., 
Morris  Ketchum,  Esq., 
James  M.  Brown,  Esq., 
Nathaniel  Sands,  Esq. 


Committee  for  Sanitary  Inquiry,  &c. 


Franklin's  aphorism  that  Public  Health  is  Public 
Wealth,  finds  ample  confirmation  in  the  experience  of  all 
populous  communities ;  and  when  our  Lest  medical  men 
assure  us  that  a  vast  proportion  of  the  sickness  in  our  city 


xiv 


EsTEODTJCTOEY  STATEMENT. 


is  produced  by  causes  that  are  positively  preventable,  or 
that  may  be  removed ;  and  when  they  state  the  fact  that 
the  preventable  waste  of  life  and  health,  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  may  safely  be  estimated  at  seven  thousand  lives, 
and  more  than  tico  hundred  thousand  cases  of  sickness  every 
year — shall  not  every  citizen  bestir  himself  to  terminate 
such  a  waste  of  the  richest  physical  blessings  which  the 
Creator  has  bestowed  upon  mankind  %  "  All  that  a  man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life ; "  and  yet,  to  society  at  large, 
the  care  and  protection  of  life  and  health  is  a  cumulative 
good,  which  confers  benefits  that  multiply  and  extend  like 
the  good  deeds  of  well-spent  days.  Sanitary  improve- 
ments directly  promote  the  material  advancement  of  a 
people,  while  they  bring  into  operation  the  most  reliable 
and  effectual  agencies  for  social  and  moral  elevation. 

Their  ultimate  and  highest  results  reach  far  beyond 
pecuniary  advantage ;  they  take  deep  hold  upon  the  noblest 
sympathies  and  sentiments  of  all  classes  of  society;  they 
confer  benefits  upon  all  alike. 

The  relation  of  the  health  and  vigorous  life  of  a  people 
to  the  State,  or  to  commercial  prosperity,  requires  no  dis- 
cussion in  this  statement.  From  Plato  to  the  greatest  of 
modem  statesmen  and  economists,  the  sanitary  welfare  of  a 
people  has  justly  been  deemed  an  essential  element  of  social 
and  commercial  advancement;  and  so  intimately  related 
do  we  find  the  sanitary  and  the  social  wants  of  the  popula- 
tion in  the  City  of  New  York,  that,  from  the  outset  of  re- 
formatoiy  efforts,  whether  social  and  political  or  exclusively 
moral  and  religious,  sanitary  improvement  is  a  work  of 
paramount  necessity.    "There  is,"  says  the  Edinburgh 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT. 


XV 


Review  (vol.  xci.,  1850),  "a  most  fatal  connection  between 
physical  imcleanness  and  moral  pollution.  The  condition 
of  a  population  becomes  invariably  assimilated  to  that  of 
their  habitations.  The  indirect  effects  of  sickness  are  far 
more  hurtful,  though  less  observable,  than  the  direct  effects 
of  mortal  disease ;  it  lowers  the  tone,  unstrings  the  nerves, 
and  brings  on  physical  languor  and  mental  apathy."  But 
beyond  the  physical,  the  mental,  and  the  economical  losses 
resulting  from  prevailing  ill-health,  there  are  certain  politi- 
cal and  social  aspects  of  the  same  agencies  that  ought  to 
be  studied  by  every  intelligent  citizen.  The  mobs  that 
held  fearful  sway  in  our  city  during  the  memorable  out- 
break of  violence  in  the  month  of  July,  1863,  were  gath- 
ered in  the  overcrowded  and  neglected  quarters  of  the 
city.  As  was  stated  by  a  leading  journalist  at  that  time : 
"  The  high  brick  blocks  and  closely-packed  houses  where 
the  mobs  originated  seemed  to  be  literally  hives  of  sickness 
and  vice.  It  was  wonderful  to  see,  and  difficult  to  believe, 
that  so  much  misery,  disease,  and  wretchedness  can  be 
huddled  together  and  hidden  by  high  walls,  unvisited  and 
unthought  of,  so  near  our  own  abodes.  Lewd  but  pale 
and  sickly  young  women,  scarcely  decent  in  their  ragged 
attire,  were  impudent  and  scattered  everywhere  in  the 
crowd.  But  what  numbers  of  these  poorer  classes  are  de- 
formed! what  numbers  are  made  hideous  by  self-neglect 
and  infirmity !  Alas  !  human  faces  look  so  hideous  with 
hope  and  self-respect  all  gone!  And  female  forms  and 
features  are  made  so  frightful  by  sin,  squalor,  and  debase- 
ment !  To  walk  the  streets  as  we  walked  them,  in  those 
hours  of  conflagration  and  riot,  was  like  witnessing  the 


xvi 


INTKODUCTOEY  STATEMENT. 


day  of  judgment,  with  every  wicked  thing  revealed,  every 
sin  and  sorrow  blazingly  glared  upon,  every  hidden  abom- 
ination laid  before  hell's  expectant  fire. 

***##* 

"  The  elements  of  popular  discord  are  gathered  in  those 
wretchedly-constructed  tenant-houses,  where  poverty,  dis- 
ease, and  crime  find  an  abode.  Here  disease  in  its  most 
loathsome  forms  propagates  itself.  Unholy  passions  rule 
in  the  domestic  circle.  Every  thing,  within  and  without, 
tends  to  physical  and  moral  degradation." 

In  the  Report  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene  will  be  found 
a  body  of  evidence  bearing  upon  the  subject  of  Sanitary 
neglect  as  producing  social  degradation,  which  to  read- 
ers and  to  legislators  can  scarcely  be  of  less  interest 
than  the  definite  records  and  well-sustained  conclusions 
therein  contained  respecting  the  existing  sanitary  condi- 
tion and  wants  of  the  city,  the  preventable  causes  of  dis- 
ease, and  the  physical  agencies  and  works  required  for  the 
needed  hygienic  improvements. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  preliminary  labor 
of  the  Council  of  Hygiene  and  its  corps  of  skilled  and  in- 
defatigable Sanitary  Inspectors,  has  been  planned  and  per- 
formed voluntarily,  and  by  gentlemen  whose  time  and 
thoughts  are  burdened  by  their  ordinary  professional 
and  official  duties;  and  that  none  of  the  means  or  powers 
of  the  municipal  government  could  be  used  in  prosecuting 
the  great  work  of  inquiry  and  recording,  whicli  lias,  under 
peculiar  disadvantages,  but  with  marked  success,  been 
prosecuted  by  them. 

The  Citizens'  Association  asks  the  attention  of  tho 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT. 


xvii 


people  of  the  City  and  the  State  of  New  York  to  the  facts 
set  forth  in  this  Sanitary  Report,  and  it  also  asks  that  the 
needed  works  of  sanitaey  mpkovemekt  be  immediately 
begun  by  competent  minds  and  competent  hands.  The 
skilled  labors  and  trustworthy  advice  of  a  Voluntary 
Council  of  Hygiene,  have  definitely  determined  when  and 
how  such  works  of  improvement  should  be  commenced. 
They  have  shown  what  is  the  nature,  and  what  must  be 
the  preventive  or  cure  of  existing  causes  of  needless  sick- 
ness, mortality,  and  public  peril  from  removable  evils. 

To  the  physicians  who  have  thus  contributed  lasting 
benefits  to  the  public  welfare,  their  own  fellow-citizens 
and  society  at  large  are  placed  under  renewed  obliga- 
tions. And  in  thus  requesting  and  obtaining  from  the 
Profession  that  is  ever  in  the  front  ranks  of  all  great 
enterprises  for  human  improvement  such  labors  and 
such  practical  results,  the  Association  has  simply  done 
what  the  people  in  their  legislative  capacity  are  in  duty 
bound  to  do.  A  popular  writer  has  stated  that  "The 
State  which  founds  its  legislation  on  a  knowledge  of  reali- 
ties, which  expects  from  the  physical  sciences  information 
respecting  human  life  collectively,  considered  in  all  its  re- 
lations, has  a  right  to  demand  from  its  physicians  a  gen- 
eral insight  into  the  nature  and  causes  of  popular  dis- 
eases." * 

The  Association  cannot  close  this  Introduction  without 
expressing  its  grateful  estimate  of  the  arduous  and  self- 
denying  labors  of  the  medical  gentlemen,  the  fruit  of  whose 
researches  is  embodied  in  the  Report.    An  investigation 

*  Becker's  Epidemics  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  Babbington's  Edition. 
2 


xviii 


INTRODUCTORY  STATEMENT. 


so  thorough,  searching,  and  extensive,  and  directed  by 
such  genius  and  energy,  has  never  before  been  at- 
tempted in  our  city  or  in  this  country.  In  pursuing 
their  investigations  they  have  not  hesitated  to  sacrifice 
personal  ease  and  comfort,  and  deny  themselves  many  so- 
cial enjoyments ;  they  have  exposed  themselves  to  repul- 
sive and  nauseous  scenes  in  the  abodes  of  misery  and  want, 
and  to  the  infectious  localities  and  homes  of  disease  and 
death,  in  order  to  be  able  to  give  an  exact  and  complete 
survey  of  the  sufferings,  perils,  and  sanitary  wants  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  crowded  and  insalubrious  districts,  and 
to  secure  the  application  of  effective  guarantees  against 
future  misery  and  death. 

The  Citizens'  Association  having  determined  to  initiate 
reformatory  movements  that  shall  produce  permanently 
beneficial  results,  and  having  taken  counsel  with  able  ad- 
visers, presents  to  the  public  this  Report  of  its  Council 
of  Hygiene  and  Public  Health,  believing  that  the  various 
questions  which  are  therein  examined  and  elucidated  are  of 
vital  importance  to  the  sanitary,  commercial,  and  social  wel- 
fare of  New  York. 

%\t  Counril  of  i\t  Citizens'  satiation. 

JAME8  BROWN,  JOHN  DAVID  WOLF, 

.  ALEX.  T.  STEWART,  WM.  E.  DODOE, 

JOHN  JACOB  A8TOR,  Jr.,  ROBERT  B.  ROOSEVELT, 

EDWARD  S.  JAFFRAV,  JONATHAN  8TTJRGES, 

PETER  COOPER,  JAMES  M.  BROWN, 

WASHINGTON  R.  VERMILYE,  EDWIN  HOTT, 

NATHANIEL  SANDS,  HAMILTON  FISH, 

J.  F.  D.  LANIER,  JOHN  C.  GREEN, 

CHAS.  A  SECOR,  JAS.  BOORMAN  JOHNSTON, 

WM.  M.  VERMILTE,  MORRIS  KETCH UM. 

New  Yoiik,  January,  18C6. 


REPORT 


OF  THE 


COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH 


OF  THE 


Jfirst  |§arf: 


INCLUDING  THE  REPORT  FROM  THE  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 
AND  THE  GENERAL  REPORT  OF  THE  COUNCIL. 


Council  of  Hygiene  and  Public  Health;  ) 
Citizens'  Association  of  New  York  :  \ 

"  Resolved,  That  the  General  Report  of  the  Council,  as  prepared  by  the 
Secretary,  together  with  the  accompanying  Reports  of  the  Sanitary  Inspec- 
tors, is  hereby  approved,  and  that  the  same  be  submitted  to  the  Citizens' 
Association. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Report  of  the  Executive  Committee  be  accepted  by 
the  Council,  and  that  it  shall  constitute  a  prebminary  section  of  the  General 
Report. 

"  Adopted  by  the  Council,  January  9,  1865. 

"  JOSEPH  M.  SMITH,  M.  D.,  President. 

"  WHLARD  PARKER,  M.  D.,  Vice-President. 

"  ELISHA  HARRIS,  Secretary." 


"  Citizens'  Association  of  New  York,  813  Broadway  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Report  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene  and  Public  Health 
is  hereby  accepted,  and  ordered  to  be  published  under  the  direction  of  that 
Council. 

"  Adopted  by  the  Association,  January  10,  1865. 

"JAMES  M.  BROWN,  Chairman. 
"ROBERT  B.  ROOSEVELT,  Secretary:' 


EEPOET 

OF  THE 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE  TO  THE  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE 

UPON  THE 

PROGRESS  AND  PRESENT  CONDITION  OP  SANITARY  INQUIRY  UNDER 
ITS  DIRECTION. 


The  Executive  Committee  presents  to  the  Council  of  Hygiene  and  Public 
health  of  the  Citizens'  Association  the  following  condensed  summary  of  the 
progress,  methods,  and  present  condition  of  the  several  departments  of  sanitary 
inquiry  that  have  been  directed  by  the  Council  through  this  Committee,  since 
the  commencement  of  its  work  in  the  spring  of  1864. 

The  Council  having  become  permanently  organized  during  the  month  of 
April,  its  Executive  Committee  was  directed  to  prepare  and  put  into  operation 
a  system  of  sanitary  inquiry  that  should  extend  throughout  the  entire  length 
and  breadth  of  the  city.*  This  task  was  required  of  the  Committee  as  the  first 
step  in  the  initiatory  duty  of  the  Council,  as  an  advisary  body  to  the  Citizens' 
Association,  and  also  in  view  of  the  demand  for  sanitary  improvements  and 
the  protection  of  the  public  health  in  the  city. 

To  acquire  information  that  should  be  sufficiently  reliable  and  definite  upon 
the  various  subjects  relating  to  the  sanitary  condition  of  every  portion  of  the 
city  and  its  population,  was,  therefore,  the  first  duty  of  the  Council  and  of  its 
Executive  Committee. 

"With  tho  approbation  and  support  of  the  Citizens'  Association,  that  had 
invited  this  undertaking,  a  system  of  sanitary  inspection  was  devised  and  put  into 
operation  as  soon  as  practicable.  The  special  inspection  of  "  fever-nests  and 
insalubrious  quarters "t  was  commenced  early  in  the  month  of  May;  but  tho 
ultimate  maturing  of  plans,  the  districting  of  the  entire  city,  and  tho  selection 
and  organization  of  a  competent  corps  of  sanitary  inspectors,  were  not  fully  ac- 
complished until  tho  middle  of  July. 

•  Tho  term  city,  as  employed  in  this  and  the  subsequent  reports,  will  bo  understood  as  referring  to 
tho  entire  island,  however  occupied. 

t  The  term  fever-neat  having  been  introduced  as  being  expressive  of  tho  conditions  which  mark 
the  propagation  of  typhus  and  its  kindred  maladies,  it  will  bo  employed  as  thus  signified. 


xxii 


REPOKT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


It  was  the  unanimous  opinion  that  the  hasis  of  sanitary  reforms  mnst  he 
prepared  by  means  of  a  thorough  and  systematic  sanitary  inspection  by  compe- 
tent experts.  By  such  inquiry  it  is  that  we  can  learn  and  properly  judge  of  the 
existence  and  nature  of  the  causes  of  the  diseases  that  are  avoidable  and  pre- 
ventable. By  this  means  their  locality,  their  origin,  the  laws  that  govern  their 
operation,  together  with  the  measures  best  adapted  for  their  removal  or  pre- 
vention, must  be  ascertained. 

This  important  work  of  inspection  was,  of  course,  intrusted  to  physicians 
who  had  already  acquired  valuable  experience  in  the  service  of  the  public  dis- 
pensaries and  medical  charities  of  the  city.  The  following  schedule  of  instruc- 
tions, assignments,  &c,  issued  to  the  inspectors,  presents  a  catalogue  of  their 
names  and  the  districts  in  which  they  labored : 

BOUNDARIES  AND  DISTRIBUTION  OF  DISTRICTS 

FOR 

SANITARY  INSPECTION  UNDER  DIRECTION  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF 

HYGIENE. 

FIRST  DISTRICT— Comprising  part  of  the  First,  and  the  whole  of  the  Third  Ward ;  and 
bounded  north,  by  Reade  Street ;  east,  by  Broadway ;  south  and  west,  by  the  North 
River.    Assigned  to  Dr.  Joseph  A.  Monell,  88  Greenwich  Street. 

SECOND  DISTRICT— Comprising  part  of  the  First,  and  the  whole  of  the  Second  Ward ;  and 
bounded  north,  by  Peck  Slip  and  Spruce  Street ;  east  and  south,  by  the  East  River  ; 
west,  by  Broadway.   Assigned  to  Dr.  Isaac  L.  Millspaugh,  88  Greenwich  Street. 

THIRD  DISTRICT — Section  A— Comprising  the  Fifth  Ward  exclusively ;  bounded  north, 
by  Canal  Street ;  east,  by  Broadway ;  south,  by  Reade  Street ;  west,  by  the  North 
River.   Assigned  to  Dr.  H.  Harriot,  81  West  Forty-third  Street. 

THIRD  DISTRICT — Section  B—  Comprising  the  southern  segment  of  the  Eighth  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Spring  Street ;  east,  by  Broadway ;  south,  by  Canal  Street ;  and 
west,  by  the  North  River.   Assigned  to  Dr.  B.  M.  Keenky,  23  Greenwich  Avenue. 

FOURTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  Fourth  Ward  exclusively ;  bounded  northeaster- 
ly, by  Catharine  Street;  east,  by  South  Street;  southwesterly,  by  Peck  Slip,  Ferry 
Street,  Spruce  Street,  and  Chatham.  Assigned  to  Dr.  Ezra  R.  Pulling,  and  an  As- 
sistant, 813  Broadway. 

FIFTH  DISTRICT— Section  A — Comprising  the  northern  segment  of  the  Eighth  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Houston  Street;  east,  by  Broadway;  south,  by  Spring  Street; 
west,  by  the  North  River.  Assigned  to  Dr.  Everardcs  B.  Warner,  104  Macdougal 
Street 

FIFTH  DISTRICT — Section  B — Comprising  tho  southern  section  of  the  Ninth  Ward ; 
bounded  on  the  north,  by  Christopher  Street,  from  the  North  River  to  Sixth  Avenue ; 
east,  by  Sixth  Avenue  to  Houston  Street ;  south,  by  Houston  Street  to  tho  North 
River.    Assigned  to  Dr.  James  W.  Purdt,  CI  Macdougal  Street 

SIXTn  DISTRICT — Comprising  the  Sixth  Ward  exclusively ;  bounded  north,  by  Walker 
and  Canal  Streets ;  south,  by  Fark  Row  and  Chatham  Street ;  cast,  by  Bowery ;  wost, 
by  Broadway.    Assigned  to  Dr.  Wm.  F.  Tiioms,  92  Madison  Street 


REPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


xxiii 


SEVENTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  Fourteenth  Ward;  bounded  north,  by  Houston 
Street ;  east,  by  the  Bowery ;  south,  by  Walker  and  Canal  Streets ;  west,  by  Broad- 
way.  Assigned  to  Dr.  P.  Nolan,  138  Thompson  Street. 

EIGHTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  Tenth  Ward  exclusively ;  bounded  north,  by  Riv- 
ington Street ;  southeasterly,  by  Division  Street ;  east,  by  Norfolk  Street ;  west,  by 
the  Bowery.   Assigned  to  Dr.  J.  T.  Kennedy,  40  East  Fourth  Street. 

NINTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  Seventh  Ward ;  bounded  northwesterly,  by  Division 
and  Grand  Streets ;  east,  by  the  East  River ;  southwesterly,  by  South  Street  and 
Catharine  Street.    Assigned  to  Dr.  Oscar  G.  Smith,  133  West  Nineteenth  Street. 

TENTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  Thirteenth  Ward;  bounded  north,  by  Rivington 
Street ;  east,  by  the  East  River ;  south,  by  Division  and  Grand  Streets  ;  west,  by  Nor- 
folk Street.   Assigned  to  Dr.  John  C.  Acheson,  89  Ludlow  Street. 

ELEVENTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  a  portion  of  the  Ninth  Ward ;  bounded  north,  by 
Fourteenth  Street ;  east,  by  Sixth  Avenue ;  south,  by  Christopher  Street ;  west,  by 
the  North  River.    Assigned  to  Dr.  James  L.  Brown,  211  West  Twelfth  Street. 

TWELFTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  Fifteenth  Ward ;  bounded  north,  by  Fourteenth 
Street ;  east,  by  the  Bowery ;  south,  by  Houston  Street ;  west,  by  Hancock  and 
Bleecker  Streets  and  Sixth  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  F.  A.  Burrall,  22  West  Eleventh 
Street. 

THIRTEENTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  western  half  of  the  Seventeenth  Ward; 
bounded  north,  by  Fourteenth  Street ;  east,  by  First  Avenue  (including  both  sides  of 
that  Avenue) ;  south,  by  Rivington  Street ;  west,  by  the  Bowery.  Assigned  to  Dr. 
Robert  Newman,  16  University  Place. 

FOURTEENTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  eastern  half  of  the  Seventeenth  Ward; 
bounded  north,  by  Fourteenth  Street ;  east,  by  Avenue  B ;  south,  by  Rivington 
Street;  west,  by  First  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  E.  W.  Derby,  168  East  Fortieth 
Street. 

FIFTEENTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  Eleventh  Ward ;  bounded  north,  by  Fourteenth 
Street ;  east,  by  the  East  River  ;  south,  by  Rivington  Street ;  west,  by  Avenue  B  and 
Clinton  Street.   Assigned  to  Dr.  James  Ross,  54  Bank  Street. 

SIXTEENTH  DISTRICT— Consisting  of  the  southern  half  of  the  Sixteenth  Ward ;  bound- 
ed north,  by  Twentieth  Street;  east,  by  Sixth  Avenue;  south,  by  Fourteenth  Street; 
west,  by  the  North  River.    Assigned  to  Dr.  W.  C.  Hunter,  255  Sixth  Avenue. 

SEVENTEENTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  northern  half  of  the  Sixteenth  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Twenty-sixth  Street ;  east,  by  Sixth  Avenue ;  south,  by  Twentieth 
Street ;  west,  by  the  North  River.  Assigned  to  Dr.  Guido  Furman,  126  West  Twen- 
ty-fifth Street. 

EIGHTEENTH  DISTRICT— Consisting  of  the  southern  half  of  the  Eighteenth  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Twentieth  Street ;  east,  by  the  East  River ;  south,  by  Fourteenth 
Street ;  west,  by  the  Sixth  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  H.  M.  Field,  37  Seventh  Av- 
enue. 

NINETEENTH  DISTRICT— Consisting  of  the  northern  half  of  the  Eighteenth  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Twenty-sixth  Street ;  east,  by  the  East  River ;  south,  by  Twentieth 
Street;  west,  by  Sixth  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  J.  R.  Mansfield,  68  Lexington 
Avenue. 

TWENTIETH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  southern  half  of  the  Twentieth  W^rd  ;  bound 
ed  north,  by  Thirty-third  Street;  east,  by  Sixth  Avenue;  south,  by  Twenty-sixth 
Street;  west,  by  Hudson  River.  Assigned  to  Dr.  E.  H.  Janes,  61  West  Twenty-sixth 
Street. 


xxiv 


REPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


TWENTY-FIRST  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  northern  half  of  the  Twentieth  Ward; 
hounded  north,  by  Fortieth  Street ;  east,  by  Sixth  Avenue ;  south,  by  Thirty-third 
Street ;  west,  by  the  North  River.  Assigned  to  Dr.  James  L.  Little,  268  West  For- 
ty-second Street. 

TWENTY-SECOND  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  southern  half  of  the  Twenty-first  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Thirty-third  Street ;  east,  by  the  East  River ;  south,  by  Twenty- 
sixth  Street ;  west,  by  the  Sixth  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  R.  L.  Parsons,  263  Fourth 
Avenue. 

TWENTY-THIRD  DISTRICT— Consisting  of  the  Twenty-first  Ward,  north  of  Thirty-third 
Street ;  bounded  north,  by  Fortieth  Street ;  east,  by  the  East  River ;  south,  by  Thirty- 
third  Street;  west,  by  Sixth  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  Ellsworth  Eliot,  48  West 
Thirty-sixth  Street. 

TWENTY-FOURTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  southern  half  of  the  Twenty-second 
Ward ;  bounded  north,  by  Fiftieth  Street ;  east,  by  Sixth  Avenue  ;  south,  by  Fortieth 
Street ;  west,  by  the  Hudson  River.  Assigned  to  Dr.  Robert  Stewart,  141  West 
Forty-fifth  Street, 

TWENTY-FIFTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  northern  half  of  the  Twenty-second  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Eighty-sixth  Street ;  east,  by  Sixth  Avenue ;  south,  by  Fiftieth 
Street;  west,  by  the  Hudson  River.  Assigned  to  Dr.  J.  Lewis  Smith,  147  West  For- 
ty-ninth Street. 

TWENTY-SIXTH  DISTRICT— Consisting  of  the  southern  half  of  the  Nineteenth  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Fifty-ninth  Street;  east,  by  the  East  River;  south,  by  Fortieth 
Street ;  west,  by  Sixth  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  H.  Mortimer  Brush,  7  West  For- 
ty-sixth Street. 

TWENTY-SEVENTH  DISTRICT— Consisting  of  the  northern  half  of  the  Nineteenth  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Eighty-sixth  Street ;  east,  by  the  East  River ;  south,  by  Fifty-ninth 
Street;  we3t,  by  Sixth  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  Alexander  Hadden,  118  East 
Fifty-first  Street. 

TWENTY-EIGHTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  western  section  of  the  Twelfth  Ward ; 
bounded  north,  by  Harlem  River  and  Spuyten  Duyvel  Creek ;  east,  by  Sixth  Avenue ; 
south,  by  Eighty-sixth  Street ;  west,  by  North  River.  Assigned  to  Dr.  L.  A.  Ropen- 
stein,  Manhattanville. 

TWENTY-NINTH  DISTRICT— Comprising  the  eastern  section  of  the  Twelfth  Ward; 
bounded  north,  by  Harlem  River ;  east,  by  the  East  River ;  south,  by  Eighty-sixth 
Street;  west,  by  Sixth  Avenue.  Assigned  to  Dr.  J.  0.  Farrinoton,  128  East  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-eighth  Street,  Harlem. 


INSTRUCTIONS  TO  INSPECTORS. 

THE  LEADING  FOLNTS  OF  SANITARY  INQUIRY. 

u  [TnE  main  object  of  the  inquiries  that  arc  recorded  in  the  Record-book  is  to  procure 
and  preserve  accurate  information  concerning  the  sanitary  condition  of  every  portion  of  the 
city.    Each  inspector  is  expected  to  record  his  observations  daily,  &c,  &c.]       *  * 

*  *  mm  »  «  •  • 

•  »•••*••  • 

"the  inquiry  will  relate  to 
A. 

"  77w  Block  or  Square  Wsitcd. — Ita  boundaries ;  nature  of  the  ground ;  drainage, 


REPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


XXV 


natural  and  artificial ;  nuisances  and  any  sources  of  insalubrity ;  the  prevailing  character 
of  the  population  inhabiting  the  block ;  the  general  condition  and  uses  of  the  buildings,  etc. ; 

B. 

"  The  Streets,  Courts,  and  Alleys. — The  sewerage ;  the  local  drainage ;  the  pavement ; 
gutters ;  garbage ;  cleanliness,  etc. ; 

C. 

"the  inspection  of  the  house  or  houses  in  the  block. 
"  The  frontage,  north,  south,  etc. ;  stories  and  height  of  each  story ;  condition  and 
material  of  buildings ;  dimensions  of  habitations,  and  rate  of  population  to  area  and  to  air- 
space ;  water  supply ;  house  drainage,  whether  ample,  independent,  and  in  good  keeping ; 
cesspools ;  location  and  character  of  water  closets ;  care  of  garbage,  etc. ;  ventilation, 
external  and  internal ;  cellars  and  basements,  and  cellar  population ; 

D. 

"sickness  and  mortality. 
"  Inquire  concerning  the  prevalence  and  character  of  diseases  in  house  and  in  neighbor- 
hood, and  state  whatever  may  be  ascertained  respecting  sickness  and  death-rates. 

*  ******* 

"  On  the  first  page  of  the  Book  of  Records  it  is  requested  that  each  inspector  draw  a 
map  of  his  district,  and  on  the  corners  of  each  square  place  figures,  indicating  the  number 
of  the  street ;  also  that  a  red  line  be  drawn  through  those  streets  in  which  sewers  exist. 

"  The  Records  of  Inspection  begin  on  the  second  page.  On  the  top  of  the  page  should 
be  written  distinctly  the  names  of  the  streets  between  which  lies  the  belt  of  squares  first 
to  be  examined.  Underneath  should  be  written  the  names  of  the  streets  intersecting  these 
and  forming  the  different  squares,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  form  of  heading  which  accom- 
panies these  instructions.  On  the  margin  should  be  placed  numbers  corresponding  to  the 
several  points  to  be  reported  upon,  as  contained  in  the  printed  list.  [See  Schedule  of 
'  Subjects  for  Inquiry ; '     *       *       *       *  *] 

"  The  Inspection. — This  should  be  pursued  in  accordance  with  the  suggestions  relating 
to  the  scope  and  leading  points  of  Inquiry,  as  presented  upon  the  first  page  of  the  Record- 
book. 

"  It  is  recommended  that  each  Inspector  begin  his  examination  at  one  corner  of  his  dis- 
trict, and  inspect  a  square  at  a  time,  the  word  square  being  here  used,  in  a  general  sense, 
for  any  collection  of  houses  bounded  by  three  or  more  streets.  This  is  considered  prefer- 
able to  following  the  line  of  any  single  street,  and  inspecting  each  side,  because  each 
square  constitutes  in  itself  a  small  sanitary  district,  and  should  be  considered  a  distinct 
entity.  Having  completed  the  square,  take  the  next  one  between  the  same  streets,  and  so 
on,  until  the  Inspector  has  reached  the  limit  of  his  district,  or  the  termination  of  the 
streets.  Having  completed  this  belt  of  squares,  let  him  take  the  next  series  of  squares 
lying  parallel  to  it,  and  thu3  proceed  until  his  district  is  completed.  But  it  will  be  the 
duty  of  the  Inspector,  whenever  he  has  information  of  the  existence  of  fever,  small-pox,  or 
any  special  source  of  pestilence  within  his  district,  immediately  to  make  a  thorough  inspec- 
tion of  the  locality,  in  accordance  with  the  forms  provided  for  the  Inspection  of  Insalubri- 
ous Quarters,  and  without  delay  to  render  said  report  to  the  Council  of  Hygiene ;  but  the 
entry  of  the  regular  notes  of  inspection  of  such  localities  should  not  be  made  in  the  Book 
of  Records  until  such  square  is  reached  in  its  proper  place  in  the  series.  The  proper 
memoranda  of  such  inspections  should  be  preserved  in  a  separate  book  or  on  labelled  slips 
until  required  for  entry  in  the  Record. 

"  When  the  whole  or  greater  part  of  a  square  is  composed  of  tenant-houses,  it  will 
generally  be  found  that  many  of  them  arc  alike ;  and  in  such  cases,  while  it  will  be  ncces- 


xxvi 


REPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


sary  to  make,  at  least,  a  general  Inspection  of  each  house,  it  will  be  necessary  to  describe, 
in  detail,  the  condition  of  only  one  or  two,  stating  the  fact  (which  is  always  to  be  verified 
by  actual  Inspection),  that  the  adjoining  houses,  for  a  given  distance,  present  the  same 
general  features ;  or,  if  different,  state  the  essential  points  of  difference.  When  a  square 
or  block  is  composed  mainly  or  entirely  of  houses  occupied  by  one  or  two  families,  the 
Inspection  can  generally  be  made  in  a  very  short  time,  and  the  record  may  be  brief. 

"  Retorts  and  Requests. — It  is  expected  that  each  Inspector  will  be  present  at  the 
weekly  meeting,  and  that  he  will  present,  in  writing,  a  condensed  report  or  summary  of  the 
week's  labors.  It  is  also  expected  that  each  Inspector  will  write  a  full  report  of  his  whole 
district  as  soon  as  its  Inspection  shall  have  been  completed,  such  report  to  contain  a  sum- 
mary of  all  the  points  contained  in  each  special  report,  and  at  the  same  time  present  a 
concise  and  faithful  account  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  district. 

"  Special  and  very  minute  reports  should  be  made  of  tenements  and  localities  in  which 
fevers  and  other  preventable  diseases  shall  be  found  to  prevail,  which  need  not  be  entered 
in  full  upon  the  Book  of  Records,  but  are  to  be  reported  upon  separately,  and  may  be 
referred  to  by  note. 

"  The  extensive  prevalence  and  diffusion  of  communicable  and  preventable  diseases  in 
this  city  render  it  desirable  that  each  Inspector  report  such  maladies  as  frequently  and  as 
fully  as  practicable.  The  Council  expects  to  receive  at  least  four  such  reports  weekly  from 
each  Inspector. 

"  It  is  particularly  desirable  and  necessary  that  each  Inspector  should  so  lay  out  his 
work,  and  prosecute  his  daily  inquiries,  as  to  complete  the  survey  of  his  district  within  the 
period  specified,  and  care  should  be  taken  not  to  expend  time  needlessly  on  points  that  are 
not  essential. 

"  [For  suggestions  respecting  further  details  of  domiciliary  inspection,  see  the  forms  for  Special 
Inspection,  Reports  of  Insalubrious  Quarters,  and  Pestilential  Diseases]. 

"  [Paper  for  maps,  blank  forms,  and  books  for  reports  and  records,  and  any  facilities  that  the  Council 
of  Hygiene  or  the  Citizens'  Association  can  supply  for  tho  furtherance  of  this  work,  will  be  furnished 
upon  application  at  their  office,  813  Broadway. 

"Any  Inspector  who  requires  the  presence  or  aid  of  the  police  in  tho  prosecution  of  his  inquiry,  will 
obtain  snch  aid  by  applying  to  the  Superintendent  of  Metropolitan  Police,  or  to  Captain  Lord,  at  tho 
Police  Headquarters. 

"  Insalubrious  quarters  that  urgently  demand  immediato  reform,  should  bo  promptly  reported  with 
specific  statements,  to  tho  Council  of  Hygiene.  And  in  the  whole  courso  of  these  inquiries,  tho  Inspector 
will  bear  in  mind  that  Iho  improvement  of  tho  health  and  condition  of  tho  people,  and  tho  acquisition 
of  accurate  knowledge  of  prevalent  diseases  and  their  causes,  is  tho  main  object  of  this  unitary  survey 
of  tho  city.]"  * 

SYSTEM  OF  DAILY  RECORDS. 
Eighth  "Ward. — Broadway  to  Mercer. 
j»  1st  Square.     Canal  to  Grand  St. 

£  1. 

%  2. 
&c. 

•  For  this  schedule  sco  next  page. 


REPOKT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


xxvii 


Tho  inspectors  were  directed  to  make  this  inspection,  as  far  as  possible,  a 
house-to-house  visitation,  and  so  thorough  as  to  leave  no  cause  of  unhealthiness 
and  no  existing  disease  undiscovered  and  uninvestigated.  The  inquiry  "was  to 
proceed  systematically,  commencing  at  a  given  limit  of  the  district  and  pro- 
gressing by  contiguous  squares  until  the  work  was  completed.  The  following 
arrangement  of  the  leading  subjects  of  inquiry  was  issued  for  the  purposes  of 
facilitating  the  inspections  and  insuring  uniformity  in  all  the  records  and  reports. 
Inspectors  were,  however,  directed  to  develop  each  head  by  such  subordinate 
questions  as  they  might  deem  desirable  : 

SUBJECTS  FOR  SANITARY  INQUIRY. 

1.  Nature  of  the  ground. 

2.  Drainage  and  sewerage. 

3.  Number  of  houses  in  the  square. 

4.  Vacant  lots  and  their  sanitary  condition. 

5.  Courts  and  alleys. 

6.  Rear  buildings. 

7.  Number  of  tenant-houses. 

8.  Description  of  a  single  tenement  [of  a  family]. 

9.  Description  of  a  single  tenant-house. 

10.  Description  of  a  row  of  tenements.    These  descriptions  should  state — 

a.  Condition  and  material  of  buildings. 

b.  Number  of  stories  and  their  height. 

c.  Number  of  families  intended  to  be  accommodated,  and  space  allotted  to  each. 

d.  Water  supply  and  house  drainage. 

e.  Location  and  character  of  water-closets. 
/.  Disposal  of  garbage  and  house-slops. 

g.  Ventilation,  external  and  internal. 

h.  Cellars  and  basements,  and  their  population, 
t.  Condition  of  halls  and  passages. 

j.  Frontage  on  street,  court,  alley — N.,  E.,  S.  or  W. 
k.  Miscellaneous  items. 

I.  Statement  of  sickness  and  mortality  [according  to  the  printed  formula  for 
insalubrious  quarters]. 

11.  Drinking  shops,  brothels,  gambling  saloons,  etc. 

12.  Stores  and  markets. 

13.  Factories,  schools,  crowded  buildings. 

14.  Slaughter-houses  [describe  particularly]. 
16.  Bone  and  offal  nuisances. 

16.  Stables,  etc. 

IT.  Churches  and  school  edifices. 

18.  Prevailing  character  of  the  population. 

19.  Prevailing  sickness  and  mortality. 

20.  Sources  of  preventable  disease  and  mortality. 

21.  Condition  of  streets  and  pavements. 

22.  Miscellaneous  information. 

[Each  of  these  subjects  to  be  developed  by  such  subordinate  questions  as  the  Inspector  deem* 


xxviii 


REPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


desirable.  The  special  points  to  which  attention  is  directed  under  the  XOlh  head,  suffi- 
ciently illustrates  the  method  of  elaborating  such  questions.] 

To  each  sanitary  inspector  a  commission  of  appointment  was  issued  in  the 
following  terms: 

Sir: 

Tlie  Council  op  Hygiene  and  Public  Health,  reposing  special 
confidence  in  your  skill  and  ability  to  pursue  sanitary  inquiries  and  make 
reports  thereon,  hereby  commissions  you  for  such  duty,  under  direction  of  its 
Executive  Committee. 

(Signed)  Joseph  M.  Smith,  M.  D.,  President. 

Elisha  Harris,  M.  D.,  Secretary. 

The  attention  of  inspectors  was  especially  called  to  the  importance  of  a 
thorough  and  exhaustive  inquiry  into  the  condition  of  insalubrious  quarters 
and  localities  where  pestilential  diseases  were  found  to  be  prevalent,  and  re- 
specting the  diseases  themselves,  particularly  as  relates  to  fever,  infantile  mor- 
tality, small-pox,  etc.  A  form  of  special  reports  was  accordingly  issued  to  fa- 
cilitate this  branch  of  inquiry.  The  following  is  a  partial  abstract  of  the  sched- 
ule of  points  requiring  replies  in  such  reports : 

"REPORT  OF  PESTILENTIAL  DISEASES  AND  INSALUBRIOUS  QUARTERS. 

"Name  of  the  disease  reported   ■ 

 Physician. 

"  Dates  of  the  visits  and  inspection  

"THE  PLAN  OF  INQUIRY.  AND  RECORD. 
I.  To  trace  and  record  the  Medical  history  of  the  sick  person. 

II.  To  ascertain  and  record  facts  relating  to  the  Family  and  otherpcrsons  exposed  to  the 
patients  and  to  the  causes  of  the  malady. 

III.  To  report  the  Sanitary  condition  of  the  Domicile. 

IV.  To  report  the  Statistics  and  Sanitary  condition  of  the  Population  of  that  domicile. 
V.  To  report  upon  the  Sanitary  condition  of  the  Locality  or  Neighborhood  and  its  Popu- 
lation. 

VI.  To  preserve  and  make  returns  of  theso  Records. 

VII.  To  prepare  on  the  spot  the  necessary  outlines  or  data  for  the  sketching  of  a  Map  or 

Descriptive  Chart  of  the  Domicile,  Block,  or  Locality." 


KEPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


"I. 

1.  Name  

[If  there  are  several  patients 

here,  insert  all  the  names]  

2.  Residence,  Street  and  No  

3.  Age  and  Nativity  

b.  Period  of  residence  in  this  city  

4.  Social  condition ;  [married  ?  unmarried  ? 

General  condition  of  family?  etc.]  

b.  Occupation  

c.  Grade  of  intelligence;  [igno- 
rant, educated,  depraved,  etc.]  

d.  Income  and  means  of  subsist- 
ence   

Date  when  this  patient  or  place  was  first  seen 

by  Inspector  

b.  When  this  case  of  sickness 

,       commenced  ?  

History  of  the  case  or  cases  of  disease  

b.  What  the  principal  cause  ?  

c.  How  and  when  exposed  to  do.  ?  

d.  What  relation  to  do.  had  this 
patient'3  personal  and  domi- 
ciliary habits  ?  

e.  What  other  prediposing  causes 

are  known  ?  "  

"H. 

Who,  and  how  many  persons,  have  been  and 
now  are  exposed  to  the  immediate  causes 

of  the  malady?  

How  many  cases  of  this  malady  have  already 
occurred  in  this  family,  or  among  these 

persons  ?  

What  has  been  the  constant  sickness-rate 
among  the  persons  over  ten  years  of  age 

here  during  the  last  six  months  ?  "  *  

[And  eight  other  questions.'] 

«m. 

What  number  of  persons  in  this  house?  

b.  Pro  rata  of  ground  area  to 

each  occupant  ?  [in  sq.  ft.  ?]  

c.  Average  cubical  space  in  the 

apartments  to  each  person?  "  

[And  thirty-six  other  questions.'] 

*  "State  what  proportion  or  percentage,  on  an  average,  upon  snch  testimony  as  can  be  obtained,  is 
constantly  sick:  Jth,  jth,  or  20 per  cent.,  &c." 


XXX 


EEPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


"IV. 

Natural  drainage  

Sewerage  

Width  and  peculiarities  of  Streets  

b.  Width  and  peculiarities  of 

Courts  and  Alleys  

Special  Nuisances  in  the  locality  "   

[And  twenty-three  oilier  questions.] 

"APPENDED  STATEMENTS. 

u  Other  Prevalent  Diseases  in  the  same  Locality. — Particular  attention  is  to  be  directed  to  the 
extent  and  causes  of  any  other  malady  that  is  found  to  be  especially  prevalent  in  the  family,  the  house, 
block,  or  district  that  is  being  canvassed  with  reference  to  the  disease  that  is  recorded  in  the  preced- 
ing pages.  After  filling  out  the  following  registry,  relating  to  Infant  mortality,  make  a  brief  record 
of  any  important  facts  that  may  be  ascertained  respecting  the  existence  of  Pulmonary  Phthisis,  Scrof- 
ulous diseases — Marasmus,  Ophthalmia,  etc. — Erysipelas,  Peurperal  Fever,  Still-births,  etc,  etc. 
Let  the  range  of  such  inquiries  extend  to  all  diseases  that  are  ascertained  to  be  peculiarly  prevalent 
and  fatal  in  the  domicile  or  the  locality  reported." 

[The  foregoing  form  of  Eecord  fills  eight  pages.] 

These  special  reports  enable  us  to  preserve  in  permanent  form  the  valuable 
records  they  contain,  and  at  the  same  time  they  serve  as  the  basis  for  summary 
tabulations,  specimens  of  which  are  herewith  submitted  for  publication  in  the 
General  Keport.  The  statistics,  distribution,  and  grouping  of  such  pestilential 
diseases  as  typhus,  small-pox,  and  cholera  infantum,  have  been  systematically 
studied,  and  the  practical  results  of  this  labor  will  aid  very  materially  in  work- 
ing out  lasting  benefits  to  the  community.  Yet  both  the  plans  and  the  result 
thus  far  attained  by  them  mu  st  be  regarded  at  present  as  simply  the  beginning 
of  a  system  of  Sanitary  Inquiry  and  Sickness  Registration  that  should  be  ex- 
tended and  sustained  in  such  manner  as  to  reach  all  those  economical  and 
humane  results  which  an  enlightened  people  have  a  right  to  expect  and  demand 
from  sanitary  science. 

While  making  this  sanitary  survey  the  Inspectors  have  constantly  endea- 
vored to  render  their  labors  immediately  beneficial  to  the  inhabitants  of  insalu- 
brious quarters  by  means  of  personal  counsel  during  the  inspection,  also  by  com- 
municating information  to  the  Metropolitan  Police ;  the  Inspectors  being  fur- 
nished with  the  following  blank-forms  for  the  latter  purpose : 

£ht  Citijtnfi'  SlsBOtiation  of  Nt_  J3ork. 

Office,  No.  813  Broadway,    1864. 

To  (lie  Captain  of  the  Sanitary  Company,  Central  Department  of  Metropolitan  Police: 

Sir  :  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  the  following  complaint  is  made  against 
an  insalubrious  place : 

Nature  of  the  Complaint,  ,   

ncmbbb  and  street,—   

Disease  Prevailing  or  Threatened,   ,, 

 M.  D.,  Sanitary  Inspector  for  tilt  Council  of  Hygiene. 


KEPOKT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


xxxi 


On  Saturday  evening  of  each  week  the  physicians  thus  engaged  convened 
for  mutual  counsel,  the  comparison  of  results,  and  for  advice  from  a  committee 
of  the  Council  of  Hygiene.  Tho  following  extracts  from  circulars  issued  hy  the 
Executive  Committee  show  the  nature  of  the  advice  given : 

"  The  Committee  advises  that  tho  records  and  reports  of  currenjt  work  of  Sanitary 
Inquiry  be  fully  written  up  at  the  close  of  each  week  and  each  month,  so  as  to  insure 
such  recording  while  the  facts  are  yet  freshly  in  mind.  And  in  pursuing  a  work  that 
promises  to  be  of  such  great  and  lasting  importance,  it  is  desirable  that  each  physician 
engaged  in  it  should,  in  his  own  field,  strive  to  give  the  most  scientific  and  thoroughly 
practical  bearings  to  his  hygienic  inquiries  and  study. 

"  The  Committee  requests  that  the  summary  or  review  which  each  Inspector  is  ex- 
pected to  present,  in  writing,  at  the  weekly  meeting,  comprise  a  brief  statement  of  the 
progress  and  the  specially  interesting  points  made  in  the  work.  These  summary  state- 
ments are  designed  to  interest  and  profit  all  who  hear  them  read,  and  then  to  guide  the 
Council  in  its  own  duties  from  week  to  week. 

"  It  is  desirable  that  each  Inspector  should  observe  a  systematic  method  of  recording  in 
accordance  with  the  schedule  of  subjects  as  numbered,  and  that  each  of  the  subjects  for 
inquiry  be  expanded,  according  to  the  Inspector's  views  of  utility,  at  each  new  point  of 
observation.  It  is  especially  desired  that  the  rate  of  crowding  in  Tenements  upon  limited 
areas  be  accurately  noted,  and  that  such  crowded  and  insalubrious  quarters  be  occasionally 
revisited. 

*********** 
"  What  have  been  the  prevailing  diseases  during  the  past  season,  and  to  what  causes 
and  conditions  are  they  in  general  attributable? 

"  1.  Specify  particular  localities  in  which  small-pox,  typhus,  typhoid,  malarial  and 
exanthematous  fevers,  cholera  infantum,  diphtheria,  diarrhoeal  and  puerperal  diseases, 
erysipelas,  and  kindred  affections,  have  been  unusually  prevalent,  and  give  in  full  and 
minutely  the  local  conditions  influencing  the  rise,  progress,  and  mortality  from  these 
diseases. 

"  2.  What  has  been  the  constant  sickness-rate  in  insalubrious  quarters  ? 

"  3.  Have  you  found  insalubrious  quarters  where  the  constant  sickness-rate  and 
mortality  were  slight ;  and  if  so,  how  do  you  explain  the  fact  ? 

"  4.  Have  you  found  diseases  emanating  from  immigrants  ?  If  so,  specify  the  class  of 
diseases,  the  extent  of  their  prevalence,  the  circumstances  under  which  they  occur ;  with 
examples  of  their  contagiousness. 

*********** 
"  The  Council  fully  appreciates  the  fact  that  the  labors  which  have  been  undertaken  by 
the  gentlemen  who  are  engaged  in  this  work  of  Sanitary  Inquiry,  are  inspired  by  noble 
professional  and  philanthropic  zeal  and  purposes  of  public  utility,  and  that  these  must 
be  the  leading  incentives  to  that  thoroughness  of  research  which  is  to  be  the  most  essential 
condition  of  success  in  the  effort  to  make  these  labors  contribute  to  the  public  welfare  and 
to  the  progress  and  usefulness  of  sanitary  science." 

The  work  of  sanitary  inspection  was  prosecuted  uninterruptedly  until  tho 
month  of  December  (1864),  and  since  that  time  the  Inspectors  have  carried  for- 
ward specific  inspections  relating  to  small-pox,  typhus,  and  tho  sickness  and 
death-rates  in  particular  localities.  This  class  of  inspections  is  still  in  progress, 
and  the  results  are  most  instructive  and  practically  important. 


xxxii 


REPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


Upon  the  completion  of  the  sanitary  survey  of  the  city,  the  first  of  Decem- 
her,  each  of  the  Inspectors  presented  a  concise  summary  of  the  results  of  his 
inquiry.  These  final  reports  of  the  Inspectors  are  herewith  submitted  to  the 
Council.  They  present  a  well-prepared  body  of  evidence  relating  to  the  sani- 
tary condition  of  the  city  and  its  various  classes  of  population.  The  Eecord- 
books  containing 'the  minutes  of  the  Sanitary  Survey,  the  maps  and  charts,  the 
rough  sketches  and  statistical  reports  of  insalubrious  tenements  and  quarters, 
and  the  special  reports  upon  Pestilential  Diseases,  have  been  properly  returned 
and  committed  to  the  keeping  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene.  They  are  of  perma- 
nent value. 

The  character  and  value  of  the  works  which  have  been  thus  completed  by 
the  corps  of  Sanitary  Inspectors,  as  well  as  the  practical  importance  and  faith- 
fulness of  the  labors  which  the  same  gentlemen  are  still  pursuing,  can  scarcely 
be  over-estimated.  They  are  alike  honorable  to  the  profession  and  to  civiliza- 
tion. 

While  the  work  of  sanitary  inspection  has  been  going  forward  by  means  of 
systematic  agencies  in  the  city,  we  have  deemed  it  expedient  to  institute  certain 
correlative  lines  of  inquiry  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  civic  population,  with 
the  design  to  obtain  positive  information  regarding  the  spread  of  diseases  from 
the  city.  For  this  purpose  a  circular  was  issued  to  physicians  in  neighboring 
towns,  and  in  the  cities  and  principal  villages  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Some 
of  the  fruits  of  this  method  of  inquiry,  beyond  the  city,  have  been  embodied  in 
the  form  of  a  chapter  for  publication  in  the  Report  of  the  Council. 

Several  of  the  charitable  and  religious  missions  of  the  city  have  rendered  aid 
in  some  branches  of  our  sanitary  inquiry.  This  cooperation  has  been  invited  by 
a  circular  from  us,  containing  the  following  statement  regarding  the  relations 
which  the  physical  and  moral  conditions  of  the  community  sustain  to  each 
other : 

*********** 

"  We  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  purposes  and  labors  of  the  Sanitary  Council, 
though  relating  specially  to  the  protection  of  health  and  life,  are  entirely  harmonious  with 
the  works  and  purposes  of  the  Missionary,  the  Instructor,  and  the  intelligent  almoners  of 
material  and  religious  charities. 

*****  u  The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene  solicits  from 
all  intelligent  persons  who  arc  actively  engaged  in  the  religious  and  benevolent  missions 
of  the  city,  such  information  as  may,  from  day  to  day,  enable  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  and 
the  Council  to  render  their  work  more  complete  in  all  that  relates  to  the  search  of  insalu- 
brious quarters  and  the  causc9  of  preventable  disease  and  suffering.  Missionaries,  and 
other  persons,  who  are  laboring  in  assigned  districts,  will  find  it  convenient  to  communi- 
cate directly  with  the  physician  who  may  be  in  charge  of  the  Sanitary  Inspection  of  that 
particular  district. 

The  cooperation  of  all  practitioners  of  medicine  in  the  city  has  been  solicited, 
and  blank  forms  for  partial  records  of  certain  prevcntablo  kinds  of  disease  have 
been  supplied  to  nearly  a  thousand  practicing  physicians.  Tho  returns  which 
have  thus  fur  been  received  from  this  source,  havo  abundantly  justified  tho  adop- 
tion of. the  measures  pursued  by  tho  Council  of  Hygiene  in  its  sanitary  survey 


REPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


xxxiii 


of  the  city.  Of  course  it  has  not  yet  been  practicable,  from  any  such  voluntary 
reports,  to  obtain  statistics  upon  which  to  base  an  estimate  of  the  constant  sick- 
ness-rate of  particular  classes  and  localities :  it  is  to  the  knowledge  of  prevalent 
diseases  and  their  causes  that  such  records  will  contribute  most  immediately. 
This  has  been  well  illustrated  in  the  instances  in  which  physicians  have  reported, 
from  private  practice,  several  cases  of  typhoid  fever,  dysentery,  and  diarrhceal 
disease  in  the  very  localities  that  had  previously  been  reported  upon  by  the 
Sanitary  Inspector  as  particularly  liable  to  such  endemic  maladies,  in  conse- 
quence of  obstructed  drainage,  exposed  sewage,  putrefying  garbage,  etc. 

The  Executive  Committee  has  rendered  such  aid  as  it  could  to  the  Council's 
Special  Committee  on  Health  Laws,  and  would  now  report  that,  in  so  doing,  re- 
peated editions  of  the  tract  entitled  "  The  Value  and  Necessity  of  Sanitary  Im- 
provement in  Cities  "  have  been  put  in  circulation,  all  circulars,  memorials,  and 
drafts  of  sanitary  laws  have  been  promptly  printed,  and  the  final  copy  resulting 
from  the  joint  labors  of  the  Board  of  Legal  Advisers  and  the  Committee  of  the 
Council  has  been  printed  and  extensively  distributed  by  the  Council.  It  has 
been  deemed  expedient,  also,  to  provide  for  the  illustration  of  certain  sections  of 
the  sanitary  reports  by  means  of  careful  surveys,  photographing,  engraving, 
etc.  This  has  generously  been  authorized  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Citizens'  Association,  and  the  reports  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  bear  witness  to 
the  practical  value  of  such  additional  work  and  expenditure.  As  neither  the 
means  nor  the  time  were  available  for  bringing  out  full  illustrations  in  the  man- 
ner attempted  by  the  Inspectors,  it  is  thought  best  to  give  simply  a  sufficient 
number  and  variety  of  examples  to  show  many  of  the  aspects  of  sanitary  wants, 
such  as  the  overcrowding  and  faulty  construction  of  tenant-houses,  the  culs-de- 
sac  and  hiding-places  of  Typhus  and  other  infections,  and  the  character  and  en- 
croachments of  nuisances.  The  Sanitary  Chart  of  the  Fourth  District,  and  the 
Chart  of  a  Region  of  Small-Pox  and  Typhus  in  the  Third  District,  present  ex- 
amples of  what  may  be  mapped  out  in  reference  to  corresponding  conditions  in 
any  of  the  tenant-house  districts  of  the  city.  For  the  Sanitary  and  Topograph- 
ical Map  of  the  city  we  are  indebted  to  Egbert  L.  Viei,e,  Esq.,  President  of 
the  Board  of  Engineers  of  the  Citizens'  Association.  It  is  designed  to  illustrate 
— 1st.  The  primitive  topography  and  water-courses  of  the  Island  of  New  York ; 
2d.  The  boundaries  of  the  several  Sanitary  inspection  districts ;  3d.  The  plot  of 
the  Streets  and  Avenues  of  the  city ;  4th.  The  present  altitude  or  elevation  of 
each  intersection  of  Streets  and  Avenues  above  tide-water  level ;  5th.  The  ancient 
tide-water  line,  and  the  portion  of  the  city's  area  that  has  been  reclaimed  be- 
yond that  line — the  "  made-ground  "  along  the  river-sides ;  6th.  The  present 
distribution  of  sewers  throughout  the  city. 

The  intelligent  and  liberal  views  of  the  directors  of  the  Citizens'  Associa- 
tion have  made  it  both  practicable  and  desirable  to  give  to  the  plans  and  the 
details  of  the  sanitary  work  such  breadth  and  efficiency  as  would  best  tend  to 
render  this  service  permanently  beneficial  to  the  public.  This  idea  has  been 
kept  clearly  in  mind  by  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  as  well  as  by  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Council.  Being  purely  a  voluntary  undertaking,  and  having 
no  collateral  assistance  from  the  so-called  Health  Department  of  the  Municipal 


xxxiv 


REPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


Government,  the  methods  of  the  work  connected  with  this  general  Survey  and 
Sanitary  Inspection  of  the  city  have  continued  to  he  exclusively  independent  of 
any  other  aid  than  that  which  individual  citizens,  public-spirited  physicians, 
and  the  chief  officer  of  the  Sanitary  Company  of  the  Metropolitan  Police,  have 
spontaneously  given.  To  the  officers  of  the  Police  special  acknowledgment  is 
due  for  their  uniformly  attentive  and  courteous  regard  to  all  communications 
and  requests  from  the  medical  gentlemen  representing  the  Council  of  Hygiene. 

The  first  complete  sanitary  survey  that  has  ever  been  made  in  the  city  of 
New  York»is  now  completed.  The  task  has  been  executed  by  physicians.  It 
will  be  practicable  to  publish  but  a  synopsis  or  summary  of  the  work.  An  ade- 
quate pecuniary  compensation  can  never  be  rendered  to  the  laborers ;  the  con- 
sciousness of  contributing  directly  and  powerfully  to  the  physical  and  the  social 
welfare  of  their  fellow  beings  is  their  richest  reward.  Familiar  with  the  haunts 
of  fever  and  other  pestilential  diseases,  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  have  fearlessly 
penetrated  the  dismal  and  unwholesome  quarters  where  infectious  poisons  and 
deadly  maladies  menace  inhabitants  and  visitants,  and  from  whence  emanate 
the  most  dreaded  diseases  that  find  their  way  to  the  more  favored  districts  of  the 
city.  And  now,  after  completing  the  grand  survey,  writing  np  the  records 
of  inspections,  and  presenting  final  reports  thereon,  they  have  entered  upon  a 
re-inspection  of  the  fever-nests  and  small-pox  fields  that  infest  the  city.  The  re- 
sults of  the  latter  effort  are  not  yet  sufficiently  complete  to  bo  reported  upon  by. 
the  Council  of  Hygiene ;  but  the  fact  may  be  stated  here  that  accurate  returns 
of  one  thousand  five  hundred  cases  of  small-pox  have  been  already  received  by 
the  Executive  Committee,  in  accordance  with  the  following  blank-form  for  re- 
ports : 

STATISTICAL  SUMMARY  OF  CASES  OF  SMALL-POX. 

Reported  by  M.  D.,  in  the   Sanitary  Inspection  District. 

The  street  and  number  of  house  in  which  Small-pox  is  reportcJ. 

Number  of  cases  now  in  progress  here. 

Number  of  cases  that  have  occurred  since  October. 

Date  of  the  outbreak  of  Small-pox  in  this  house. 

Date  of  the  outbreak  of  Small-pox  in  this  square. 

Dow  was  the  contagion  introduced  ?  And  whence  ? 

Had  this  patient  (or  these  patients)  been  vaccinated  ? 

What  number  of  persons  in  this  family  remain  unprotected  by  vaccination  ? 

What  number  of  persons  in  this  house  remain  unprotected  by  vaccination  ? 

Population  of  the  house.    [By  count  or  estimate.] 

Population  of  the  square. 

Arc  articles  of  clothing,  bedding,  upholstery,  or  other  portable  materials,  exposed  to 
the  infected  air  of  the  sick-room,  or  to  contagion  of  the  patient,  and  unguardedly  removed 
from  that  room  ?    [State  any  particulars  that  arc  important.] 

Is  any  manufacture  or  trade  carried  on  in  the  family  or  in  the  house,  by  means  of 
which  the  contagion  is  liable  to  be  communicated  or  spread  abroad  ?    [State  particularly.] 

State  what  places  of  public  resort,  shopping,  manufacture,  travel,  or  residence,  in  closo 


KEPORT  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


XXXV 


proximity  to  the  infected  apartment  and  patient,  are  particularly  exposed  or  liable  to  the 
contagion  here  ? 

Has  competent  medical  attendance  been  provided  for  the  patient  or  patients  ? 

Has  any  officer  or  agent  of  the  City  Government  visited  the  patient  or  the  house  ? 
What  official  advice  and  orders  have  been  given  ? 

Has  any  unusual  restraint  been  placed  upon  ordinary  intercourse  with  the  family  or 
the  premises  ? 

Remarks  respecting  the  Inspector's  visit  and  counsel. 

A  form  of  reports  upon  typhus  corresponding  in  all  respects  with  the  fore- 
going npon  small-pox,  is  also  bringing  in  important  results.  The  total  number 
of  cases  of  typhus  and  typhoid  fever  occurring  among  charity  patients  that 
have  been  reported  and  tabulated  by  the  inspectors  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Council  since  the  general  survey  was  begun,  to  the  present,  is  upwards  of 
sixteen  hundred.  Another  special  form  of  report  is  bringing  in  important  infor- 
mation respecting  the  daily  and  constant  sickness-rate,  and  the  percentage  of 
mortality  in  overcrowded  tenant-houses,  neglected  quarters,  etc.  The  grand  ob- 
ject of  all  such  inquiry,  inspection,  and  tabulation,  is  to  acquire  definite  and  reli- 
able information  which  shall  guide  to  wisely-directed  efforts,  npon  a  broader 
scale,  and  with  more  ample  means  for  the  diminution  and  ultimate  removal  of 
the  preventable  causes  of  disease  and  mortality. 

The  methods  of  sanitary  inquiry  and  inspection  that  have  been  pursued, 
were  adopted  as  the  most  available  that  could  be  put  into  operation  at  the  time. 
Circumstances  have  determined  certain  features  of  this  work  which  at  another 
time,  and  under  different  auspices,  would  be  most  advantageously  pursued  in  a 
different  manner.  The  working  machinery  of  a  suitable  system  of  sanitary  in- 
quiry and  health  government  in  such  a  city  as  New  York,  must  be  the  growth 
of  time.  The  Citizens'  Association  requested  such  information  and  counsel 
as  physicians  and  hygienists  alone  could  render ;  and  it  has  been  the  constant 
aim  of  your  Executive  Committee  to  prepare  such  plans,  and  pursue  such  lines 
of  inquiry,  as  would  lead  to  the  most  practical  and  certain  results  in  the  interest 
of  Health,  Life,  and  Social  Welfare  to  all  classes  of  the  population  of  New  York. 

Alfred  C.  Post,  M.  D.,  ") 
Isaac  E.  Tatlok,  M.  D.,    Executive  Committee 
Stephen  Smith,  M.  D.,    \    of  the  Council  of 
Joseph  M.  Smith,  M".  D.,  Hygiene. 
Elisha  Harris,  M.  D.,  J 

New  York,  January  9<A,  1865. 


REPORT 

OF  THE 

COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH, 

OF  THE 

<£i%its'  ^ssodatbn  of  Jefo  gorh, 

UPON  THE 

SANITARY  CONDITION  OF  THE  CITY. 


In  submitting  this  Report  to  the  Citizens'  Association  of  New 
York,  the  Council  of  Hygiene  would  state  that  its  chief  object  will 
be  to  exhibit  the  practical  conclusions  which  are  clearly  deducible 
from  the  accumulated  records  and  reports  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors, 
who  have  recently  completed  an  extended  hygienic  survey  and 
inspection  of  the  city.  As  mentioned  in  the  special  report  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  this  Council,  herewith  presented,  the  care- 
fully-recorded observations  and  inquiries  of  the  Inspectors  furnish 
a  vast  fund  of  fresh  and  most  valuable  information.  And,  in  view 
of  the  practical  interest  and  the  pubhc  importance  of  the  facts  con- 
tained in  the  voluminous  records  and  special  reports  that  have 
been  received  from  the  several  inspectors,  the  Council  has  deemed 
it  a  duty  to  procure  from  each  of  them  a  final  report  containing  a 
condensed  summary  of  the  facts  and  suggestions  that  have  entered 
into  their  cm-rent  records  during  the  progress  of  their  labors. 
These  District  Reports,  thirty  in  number,  are  herewith  submitted. 
They  constitute  a  body  of  evidence  that  will  abundantly  corrobo- 
rate all  the  statements  which  will  be  embodied  in  this  general 
report  by  the  Council.  These  reports  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors 
embrace  a  great  variety  of  details,  statistics,  and  illustrations  that 
cannot  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  thoughtful  readers.  The 


sxxviii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


records  upon  which  they  are  based  are  altogether  too  voluminous 
for  publication,  but  in  this  General  Report  the  Inspectors'  Records, 
as  well  as  their  reports  as  herewith  published,  will  be  employed 
for  guidance  and  illustration. 

To  individuals  and  to  communities  health  is  a  priceless  boon. 
It  is  equally  valuable  to  the  poor  and  to  the  rich.  Its  influence 
extends  not  only  to  the  social  and  moral  condition  and  prospects 
of  the  individual,  but  to  society  at  large,  and  public  health  becomes 
a  public  blessing.  In  view,  therefore,  of  the  fact  that  in  great 
cities,  and  particularly  in  New  York,  both  Life  and  Health  are 
peculiarly  jeoparded  by  various  and  very  active  causes,  winch 
forethought,  inquiry,  science,  art,  and  good  governmental  regula- 
tions may  remove  or  altogether  prevent,  this  Council  has  cheer- 
fully accepted  the  task  of  instituting  a  system  of  voluntary 
efforts,  with  the  design  to  observe  and  point  out  that  class  of 
causes,  with  reference  to  practical  measures  for  controlling  them. 

The  first  work  in  connection  with  the  duty  thus  undertaken, 
has  been  to  obtain  and  accumulate  fresh  and  definite  information 
by  means  of  a  carefully  devised  system  of  Sanitary  inquiry.  In 
its  endeavors  to  accomplish  this  preliminary  work,  the  Council  has 
not  overlooked  the  relations  which  health  and  the  safeguards  of 
human  life  sustain  to  the  social  and  civic  welfare  of  the  community. 
Hence,  in  this  first  step  of  a  public  and  philanthropic  duty,  the  sys- 
tem of  labor,  and  all  its  plans,  have  related  to  certain  well-defined 
principles  as  well  as  to  physical  facts  and  physiological  conditions. 

SANITARY  NECESSITIES  AND  EVILS  OF  CROWDED  CITIES. 

The  progress  of  civilization  in  all  countries  is  marked  by  the 
aggregation  of  a  large  proportion  of  their  population  in  cities  and 
commercial  towns.  However  unfavorable  to  public  health  and  to 
personal  morals  this  circumstance  may  be  regarded,  it  is  manifestly 
a  fact  which  we  must  accept,  and  duly  estimate  in  all  our  plans 
for  the  physical  and  the  social  welfare  of  society ;  for  it  is  an  inevit- 
able tendency  of  au  advancing  civilization,  with  its  institutions  of 
science  and  art,  and  with  its  ever  augmenting  commercial  and 
social  necessities,  thus  to  centralize  vast  populations  in  cities.  The 
city  of  New  York  affords  at  the  present  moment  a  striking  illus- 
tration of  this  strong  tendency ;  and  not  only  has  it  already  become 


PREVENTABLE  CAUSES. 


xxxix 


one  of  the  most  populous  and  densely-crowded  cities  in  the  world, 
but  it  is  plainly  its  destiny  to  become  at  once  the  most  populous 
and  the  most  overcrowded  of  the  great  maritime  cities.  The  evils, 
therefore,  which  now  imperil  health  and  life  in  consequence  of 
overcrowding,  etc.,  in  this  city,  will  tend  to  increase  as  the  popu- 
lation increases. 

In  all  the  problems  we  may  devise  for  the  sanitary  or  the  social 
welfare  of  this  great  metropolis,  we  must  accept  and  duly  estimate 
the  fact  that  its  vast  population  is  already  more  densely  crowded 
in  its  domiciles  than  that  of  almost  any  other  city ;  and  that  the 
evils  attendant  upon  overcrowding  and  the  aggregation  of  vast 
numbers  will  be  continually  augmented  as  the  population  increases, 
unless  the  resources  of  Sanitary  Science  and  the  beneficent  opera- 
tions of  wisely-administered  sanitary  regulations  are  interposed. 

Sanitary  Science  with  its  practical  applications  having  thus 
become  indispensable  to  the  welfare  of  populous  communities,  it 
may  justly  claim  the  attention  which  is  bestowed  upon  it  by  the 
medical  profession,  and  by  all  other  classes  that  are  concerned  in 
the  physical  or  the  moral  welfare  of  the  community.  This  science 
is  itself  a  practical  resultant  from  the  study  of  the  necessities  of 
healthful  human  life ;  and  like  the  several  departments  of  physical 
and  physiological  knowledge  upon  which  it  depends,  it  deals 
mainly  with  the  facts  which  observation,  experience,  and  rational 
deduction  positively  confirm. 

The  Council  is  fully  convinced  that  the  importance  of  sanitary 
knowledge  and  its  practical  applications  is  not  properly  understood, 
and  that  sanitary  science  is  too  generally  regarded  as  something 
new  and  of  uncertain  merit.  With  a  view,  therefore,  of  presenting 
in  a  practical  manner  the  facts  concerned  in  affecting  the  public 
health  of  New  York,  the  following  Report  is  submitted,  with  such 
details  of  illustration,  etc.,  as  seem  best  adapted  to  extend  the 
beneficial  influences  of  such  knowledge  : 

PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE  AND  DEATH. 

In  a  city  like  New  York  the  avoidable  causes  of  sickness  and 
mortality  are  numerous  and  very  active.  There  is  reason  for  the 
conclusion  that  to  this  class  of  causes  alone  should  be  attributed, 
nearly  one-third  of  the  deaths  that  have  occurred  in  this  city  dur- 
ing the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years.    That  is,  had  the  available  re- 


EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


sources  of  sanitary  knowledge,  and  a  wise  administration  of  muni- 
cipal and  domestic  regulations  based  thereon,  been  kept  actively 
and  very  generally  in  operation,  the  greater  part  of  the  avoidable 
sickness  and  mortality  would  have  been  prevented.  The  aimual 
death-rate  in  a  community,  considered  with  reference  to  its  aver- 
age, or  with  reference  to  its  variations  in  a  series  of  successive 
years,  furnishes  a  sort  of  barometer  of  health  and  the  chances  of 
life  in  such  a  community.  The  fact  will  repeatedly  appear  in  this 
Report  that  the  chief  causes  of  the  excessively  high  death-rate  in 
the  city  of  New  York  are  definite  and  jyreventable. 

The  distinction  between  the  preventable  and  the  inevitable  causes 
of  disease  and  of  death  is  practically  very  important  as  a  first  step  in 
the  consideration  of  remedial  and  preventive  sanitary  measures. 
Careful  observation  and  study  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  leading 
causes  of  the  worst  diseases  that  afflict  mankind,  have  clearly  estab- 
lished the  fact  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  such  maladies,  espe- 
cially as  they  prevail  in  cities,  belong  to  the  avoidable  or  preventable 
class,  and  that  their  principal  causes  can  be  described,  located,  and, 
to  a  great  extent,  or  entirely,  prevented.  Whenever,  therefore,  in 
this  Report,  reference  is  made  to  excessive  or  high  death-rates,  or 
to  preventable  or  avoidable  disease,  these  expressions  must  be  un- 
derstood as  referring  to  the  sickness  and  mortality  that  are  in  ex- 
cess of  the  proportion  or  percentage  of  disease  and  death  which 
are  inevitable,  or  necessarily  incident  to  the  present  state  of  the 
population  that  is  mentioned,  had  sanitary  regulations  and  the 
principles  of  hygiene  been  properly  regarded. 

Says  an  eloquent  and  learned  writer  upon  this  subject  :*  "  In 
certain  parts  of  England  and  Wales  it  is  found  that,  with  a  near 
approach  to  certainty,  you  may  predict  that  from  13  to  17  persons 
will  die  annually  out  of  each  1,000  of  the  population.  In  certain 
other  parts  or  districts  of  the  country,  we  are  equally  certain  that  the 
deaths  will  exceed  20  in  1,000 ;  in  a  few  districts  the}'  will  very  nearly 
approach  or  even  exceed  30  in  1,000 — the  variations  from  year  to 
year  being  in  this  case  much  more  considerable  than  in  the  first  case 
referred  to."  That  is,  we  shall  find  that  in  whatever  community 
or  district  the  annual  death-rate  is  lowest,  there  will  be  compara- 
tively the  least  fluctuation  ;  also  that  the  ratio  of  inevitable  mortali- 
ty need  not  exceed  17  deaths  annually  to  the  1,000  persons  living. 

•  Dr.  W.  T.  Gairdacr'8  Lecture*  on  Public  Health,  etc.,  Edinburgh,  1802. 


EEPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


xll 


THE  STANDARD  OF  HEALTH :— SICKNESS-RATE. 

Owing  to  the  absence  of  accurate  statistical  observations  re- 
garding the  relative  amount  of  sickness,  and  the  length  of  the 
periods  of  illness  in  our  city,  our  means  for  determining  the  ratio 
of  sickness  to  health  are  imperfect.  In  schools  and  large  work- 
shops, where  given  numbers  of  persons  are  daily  assembled  for 
duty,  or  reported  absent  from  illness,  estimates  upon  a  limited  scale 
are  occasionably  made  ;  but  such  statistics  are  not  yet  available  for 
general  deductions  as  regards  the  average  sickness-rate  in  particu- 
lar classes  and  at  particular  ages,  much  less  do  they  afford  a  basis 
that  is  applicable  for  the  entire  population.  But  we  possess  two 
other  elements  of  an  estimation  of  the  average  or  constant  sick- 
ness-rate :  one  is  derived  from  the  statistics  of  the  public  medical 
charities  of  New  York;  the  other  element  is  derived  from  the 
experience  of  the  Mutual  Benefit  and  Friendly  Societies  of  Great 
Britain. 

As  regards  the  latter  element  of  an  estimate  of  the  sickness- 
rate,  we  may  safely  take  the  results  of  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair's  study 
of  the  question,  "  "What  is  the  ratio  of  deaths  to  the  total  num- 
ber of  persons  sick  ? "  Dr.  Playfair  found  that  in  the  city  of  Man- 
chester there  were,  in  a  mixed  population  at  all  ages,  11,587  deaths, 
to  324,041  cases  of  sickness.  This  gives  one  death  to  twenty-eight 
cases  of  sickness,  slight  accidents  being  excluded.*  This  ratio  be- 
ing assumed  as  a  fair  average  for  a  civic  and  manufacturing  pop- 
ulation, we  have  a  basis  for  estimating  the  probable  sickness  in  a 
city  like  New  York ;  yet  it  is  plain  that  the  ratio  of  sickness  to 
mortality,  like  the  ratio  of  sicknsss  to  health,  is  variable,  and  that 
its  variations  in  different  localities,  and  in  different  classes,  sexes, 
ages,  and  occupations,  are  widely  different.  These  questions  have 
been  elaborately  investigated  by  competent  inquirers  abroad,  with 
reference  to  the  economical  and  proper  management  of  various 
kinds  of  self-supporting  and  Mutual  Benefit  Associations,  f 

There  are  good  reasons  for  the  conclusion,  that  in  the  city  of 
New  York  there  occur  not  less  than  from  twenty-five  to  thirty 
cases  of  sickness  to  every  death  that  takes  place ;  and  that  in  those 

*  See  Report  of  Health  of  Towns  Commission,  vol.  1,  p.  448,  8vo  Ed. 

f  See  Contributions  to  Vital  Statistics :  and  A  Development  of  the  Rate  of  Mortality, 
and  the  Laws  of  Sickness,  by  F.  G.  Neison.  Also  the  works  of  Mr.  Ansell,  Mr.  Fin- 
laison,  and  Dr.  Gairdner's  Lectures  on  Public  Health,  pp.  311  and  312. 


THE  STANDARD  OF  HEALTH. 


sections  of  the  city  m  which  the  rate  of  mortality  is  greatest,  the 
ratio  of  the  total  sickness  to  the  total  mortality  is  much  higher 
than  the  average  ratio  and  sickness-rate  in  the  city. 

This  is  a  point  of  great  practical  importance ;  and  without  at- 
tempting in  this  place  to  present  a  statistical  argument  upon  the 
subject,  we  will  only  refer  to  striking  illustrations  of  the  fact  as 
presented  in  some  of  the  records  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors,  pub- 
lished in  the  second  part  of  this  volume.  In  one  of  those  house-to- 
house  inspections  the  following  facts  were  elicited :  *  In  two  con- 
tiguous tenant-houses  fronting  on  Pearl  Street,  it  was  found  that 
among  seventy-four  families,  and  three  hundred  and  forty-nine 
persons  of  the  ordinary  laboring  class,  there  were,  upon  the  day 
of  the  inspection,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  persons  sick  and  diseased 
with  various  maladies;  and  farther,  that  the  death-rate  for  the 
preceding  twelve  months  had  reached  the  fearful  maximum  of  one 
in  nineteen  of  the  total  population.  But  it  will  he  observed  that 
while  the  death-rate  was  so  alarming,  the  constant  sickness-rate 
was  even  more  excessive ;  nearly  one  third  of  the  population  of  the 
two  houses  being  sick  on  the  day  of  inspection,  which  was  during 
the  healthiest  period  of  the  year. 

Illustrations  of  the  law  here  alluded  to  can  be  brought  for- 
ward to  an  indefinite  extent ;  the  records  of  sanitary  inquiry  in 
the  towns  and  cities  of  Great  Britain  abound  with  evidence  upon 
this  subject.  In  all  places,  and  among  all  classes,  in  which  there 
occurs  a  high  rate  of  mortality,  the  standard  of  health  is  observed 
to  be  lowered  in  a  corresponding  and  much  greater  degree,  the 
ratio  of  the  numher  of  persons  constantly  sick  seeming  to  increase 
with  much  greater  rapidity  than  the  ratio  of  mortality.  We  may 
state,  in  conclusion,  upon  this  all-important  question  of  the 
average  or  constant  sickness-rate  of  the  population  of  the  city  of 
New  York :  1st.  That  the  total  amount  of  sickness  and  disease 
which  exists  at  any  period  in  this  city  may,  in  the  absence  of 
actual  registration  of  disease,  be  justly  estimated  at  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  persons  sick  for  every  death  that  occurs  in  the  city. 
2d.  That  the  average  duration  of  the  illness  of  persons  who  recover 
from  disease,  is  from  ten  to  twenty  days.  3d.  That  an  excessive 
sickness-rate  is  at  once  a  sure  index  and  an  active  cause  of 
diminished  vital  endurance,  and  of  a  shortened  average  period  of 

*  See  pages  78  and  79,  Second  Tart 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


xliii 


life.  4th.  That  the  ratio  or  average  of  inevitable  sickness  and 
disease,  like  the  ratio  of  inevitable  or  necessary  mortality,  is  to  be 
ascertained  in  this  city  by  properly  studying  the  physical  condi- 
tions and  the  history  of  the  sickness  and  mortality  of  particular 
classes,  and  in  particular  localities  of  the  city.* 

The  total  amount  of  sickness  that  occurs  among  the  dependent 
and  pauper  classes  in  this  city  during  the  year,  is  known  to  be 
very  large.  For  many  years  the  number  of  such  sick  and  diseased 
persons  appears  to  have  increased  more  rapidly  than  the  rate  of 
increase  of  population ;  but  it  is  found  that  the  subject  of  sickness- 
rates  has  received  no  attention  from  the  Health  Department  of  the 
City  Government,  and  that  tbe  Records  of  Medical  Charities  of  the 
City  remain  unstudied  by  any  official  authority  ;  consequently  no 
positive  deductions  have  yet  been  made  respecting  the  ratio  of  sick- 
ness to  mortality  or  of  disease  to  health  in  the  population  of  New 
York.  But  so  far  as  trustworthy  data  have  been  obtained  by  the 
Council  of  Hygiene,  it  is  found  that  the  sickness-ratios  correspond 
very  closely  with  those  which  have  been  obtained  by  inquiries  in 
Great  Britain.  In  the  present  state  of  information  upon  the  sub- 
ject, therefore,  the  death-rate  is  an  indispensable  aid  to  correct 
deductions  regarding  the  sickness-rate  in  New  York,  and  converse- 
ly in  regard  to  the  standard  of  health  in  the  community. f  It 
should  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  whenever  the  vital  statis- 
tics of  the  city,  and  the  records  of  medical  institutions,  are  properly 

*  In  the  Metropolitan  Police  force,  consisting  of  2,014  men,  carefully  selected  and  pe- 
culiarly exposed,  the  standard  of  health  during  the  year  1864  is  thus  described  by  the 
statistics  of  sickness  and  disability.  The  number  of  days  lost  by  sickness  in  the  force 
was,  in  the  aggregate,  equal  to  67  years  of  time.  This  is  equal  to  3  J  per  cent,  of  the  total 
force.  That  is,  3  J- per  cent,  of  the  men  were  constantly  sick  (or  wounded);  31  died,  or  1 
in  65 ;  and  the  total  number  of  cases  of  sickness  was  equal  to  28  to  each  death,  allow- 
ing an  average  period  of  illness  of  16£  days  to  each  man  on  the  sick  list. 

f  Says  a  distinguished  British  writer  on  Sanitary  improvements :  "One  of  the  first 
great  objects  of  sanitary  organization  should  be  to  watch  the  death-rate;  to  watch  it  not 
only  over  a  city  or  a  parish,  but  in  detail;  to  watch  it  with  due  regard  to  differences  of 
age,  sex,  place,  and  circumstance* ;  to  watch  it  from  month  to  month,  and  even  from 
week  to  week ;  to  watch  it  as  affected  by  different  diseases,  particularly  what  arc  termed 
epidemic  diseases,  and  such  diseases  as  we  have  reason  to  believe  to  be  in  a  great  degree 
preventable ;  and  this  done,  to  make  known  the  result  from  time  to  time  to  those  who  are 
chiefly  concerned  in  Sanitary  evils  and  their  removal,  so  as  effectually  to  bring  home  to  the 
dwellers  in  darkness,  ignorance,  and  disease,  the  immense  significance  of  the  facts  taught 
by  these  figures." 


xliv 


MORTALITY  IN  NEW  YOKE. 


gleaned,  arranged,  and  studied,  there  will  be  another  and  more 
direct  method  of  determining  the  constant  sickness-rate  and  the 
average  standard  of  health  in  the  population. 

MORTALITY  IN  NEW  YORK. 

The  total  number  of  deaths  reported  by  the  City  Inspector, 
during  the  year  1863,  amounted  to  25,196.  This  was  an  increase 
of  3,952  upon  the  mortality  of  the  previous  year.  The  mortality 
of  the  y£ar  1861  was  greater  by  several  hundred  than  in  1863. 
The  death-rate  in  1863  was  a  Httle  less  than  1  in  35 ;  and  in 
1864  there  was  but  slight  variation  from  the  ratio  of  the  previous 
year.  But  as  this  estimate  is  based  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
rate  of  increase  of  the  population  since  1860  has  been  about  five 
per  cent,  per  a?mum,  which  exceeds  the  rate  of  increase  during  the 
period  from  1850  to  1860,  the  exact  ratio  can  be  accurately 
determined  only  after  the  absolute  population  of  the  city  has  been 
ascertained.  Yet,  for  the  purposes  of  our  present  inquiry,  it  suffices 
to  know  that  for  twenty-five  years  past  the  rate  of  mortality  in 
this  city  has  been  increasing,  and  that  it  has  fluctuated  from  the 
ratio  of  1  death  to  every  39  of  the  population,  to  as  great  an 
increase  as  1  death  to  every  27,  and  even  to  every  22£  of  the  liv- 
ing ;  and  that  our  death-rate  invariably  keeps  above  the  highest 
average  of  other  American  cities ;  it  also  continues  to  be  higher 
than  that  of  the  largest  cities  of  Great  Britain  and  France. 

The  reference  which  is  here  made  to  the  rates  of  mortality  in 
other  cities,  might  be  followed  up  to  some  very  important  conclu- 
sions respecting  relative  degrees  of  insalubrity  and  mortality ;  but 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  island  and  city  of  New  York  possess 
such  natural  advantages  of  salubrity  that  the  comparison  of  this 
with  other  great  cities,  American  or  European,  would  be  unequal, 
unless  these  natural  advantages  are  at  the  same  time  properly 
estimated  as  being  in  favor  of  a  lower  death-rate  and  a  higher 
average  of  health  in  this  than  in  other  cities.  The  fact  that  the 
rate  of  mortality  in  New  York  exceeds  that  of  most  other  great 
cities,  may  justly  be  regarded  as  positive  proof  that  the  mortality 
in  this  city  is  excessive  and  unnecessary.  There  is,  however,  a 
more  direct  and  satisfactory  method  of  arriving  at  just  deductions 
respecting  both  the  degree  and  the  local  circumstances  of  the 
death-rate  in  New  York.    We  select  the  following  method  as  the 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  CF  HYGIENE. 


xlv 


one  best  adapted  to  throw  light  upon  the  question  of  the  death-rate 
in  all  its  bearings  : 

Every  citizen  must  have  observed  the  fact  that  in  certain  por- 
tions of  the  city  there  exists  an  almost  universal  neglect  of  Sanitary 
regulations;  the  streets,  courts,  and  alleys  generally  filthy,  the 
gutters  obstructed,  the  house-drainage  defective,  and  the  sewerage 
faulty;  while  in  the  tenant-houses  of  such  localities  are  found 
numerous  cases  of  typhus,  small-pox,  and  all  varieties  of  pulmo- 
nary and  infantile  maladies,  which  can  be  perpetuated  and  rendered 
fatal  by  overcrowding,  domestic  uncleanness,  and  lack  of  ventila- 
tion. In  such  localities,  however  great  the  advantages  of  natural 
salubrity  may  have  been,  and  however  well-fed  and  well-to-do  the 
resident  population,  sickness  is  always  very  prevalent,  and  diseases 
are  very  fatal.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  portions  of  the  city 
in  which  the  streets  have  been  well  paved,  and  kept  clean  by 
private  enterprise,  or  by  the  influence  of  the  residents ;  where  the 
dwellings  are  kept  in  a  cleanly  and  not  overcrowded  condition ; 
where  the  local  drainage  and  general  sewerage  is  good,  and  local 
nuisances  of  every  kind  abated;  where,  in  short,  there  exists  a 
good  observance  of  Sanitary  regulations  that  have  been  tacitly 
adopted  and  enforced  by  the  local  intelligence  of  the  resident  pop- 
ulation. 

For  such  a  comparison,  we  will-  select  two  districts  in  which 
there  is  the  greatest  similarity  of  location  and  the  natural  conditions 
that  should  conduce  to  general  salubrity  of  the  resident  population, 
and  where,  as  regards  the  means  of  subsistence,  the  habits  of  indus- 
try, etc.,  etc.,  there  are  found  the  most  points  of  analogy;  but 
where,  as  we  have  just  stated,  certain  removable  causes  of  dis- 
ease are  absent  on  the  one  hand,  and  abundantly  prevalent  on 
the  other.  For  this  purpose  we  look  upon  the  Sanitary  and  Topo- 
graphical Map  that  accompanies  this  Report,  and  select  the  Third 
Sanitary  Inspection  District  (A),  and  the  Twelfth,  which  respec- 
tively comprise  the  Fifth  and  the  Fifteenth  Wards.  "We  next 
refer  to  the  Annual  Eeport  of  the  City  Inspector  for  the  year 
1863,  and  find  that  the  total  number  of  deaths  in  the  Fifth  Ward 
was  1,144 ;  while  the  total  number  in  the  Fifteenth  Ward  was  492. 
Referring  to  the  census  of  these  wards,  we  find  that  the  population 
of  the  former  ward,  in  the  year  1860,  was  22,265 ;  and  further, 
that  during  the  preceding  period  of  ten  years,  there  had  been  a 


xlvi 


MORTALITY  IX  NEW  YOEK. 


decrease  of  two  per  cent,  in  the  population  of  that  ward.  Estimat- 
ing the  population,  in  1863,  at  22,265,  according  to  the  census  re- 
turns of  1855 — though  we  know  that  the  population  in  that  ward 
decreased  to  two  per  cent,  during  the  period  from  1850  to  1860 — 
the  death-rate  is  found  to  he  1  death  to  19  living.  But  there  is  an 
allowance  to  he  made  for  the  373  deaths  that  occurred  in  the  City 
Hospital,  which  is  situated  within  the  limits  of  this  district.  The 
actual  death-rate  in  the  resident  population,  therefore,  was  1  in  28  + 
of  the  living.  And  now  to  show  that  this  is  not  a  particularly  ex- 
ceptional district  of  its  kind,  the  death-rate  of  the  Fourth  Ward, 
which  is  the  Fourth  Sanitary  District  as  described  upon  the  Map, 
may  be  quoted.  The  death-rate  in  that  Ward,  in  1863,  was  about  1 
in  25.  In  the  Fifteenth  Ward,  in  1863,  it  was  1  in  60  of  the  popula- 
tion. And  why  does  this  wide  difference  in  the  death-ratios  of  these 
neighboring  districts  exist  ?  The  resident  population  have  just 
about  the  same  distribution  into  families  with  young  children ; 
they  dwell  in  private  houses,  in  hotels  and  boarding-houses,  in 
about  the  same  proportions  in  the  several  districts,  with  the  single 
exception  that  modern  tenant-houses  have  encroached  but  a  little 
way  upon  the  Fifteenth,  or  healthful  district ;  yet  in  the  district 
last  mentioned,  experience  demonstrates  that  the  expectation  or 
chance  of  human  life,  counting  all  ages  together,  has  more  than 
twice,  yes,  two  and  a  half  times  the  value  that  can  be  claimed  for 
the  inhabitants  of  the  insalubrious  districts  previously  mentioned. 

This  method  of  illustrating  the  difference  or  variations  in  the 
rates  of  mortality  might  be  extended  to  various  other  districts,  or 
it  might  be  applied  to  small  localities,  as  to  whole  squares,  or  to 
particular  dwellings  and  tenant-houses.  Let  the  following  suffice : 
In  the  Sixth  Ward,  which  is  noted  for  insalubrity,  the  death-rate, 
in  the  year  1863,  was  1  in  every  21  of  the  population.  But  great 
as  the  difference  is  between  that  local  death-rate  and  the  rate  of 
mortality  for  the  whole  city,  which  was  about  1  in  35  or  36,  or 
between  either  of  these  rates  and  that  of  the  Fifteenth  Ward,  there 
are  found  to  be  very  marked  differences  in  the  rates  of  mortality 
in  different  localities  and  particular  tenant-houses  in  the  Sixth 
Ward  itself.  An  illustrative  instance  has  already  been  referred  to 
upon  a  previous  page,*  and  numerous  cases  of  the  kind  will  bo 
found  in  the  Reports  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors. 

•  Sec  page  XliL,  this  Report,  and  p.  18  and  79,  Tart  Second. 


KEPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


xlvii 


The  important  question  now  recurs :  What  is  the  necessary  or 
inevitable  mortality  of  the  total  population  of  the  city  ?  To  this  in- 
quiry we  "heed  present  no  other  reply  than  that  afforded  by  the  vital 
statistics  of  the  crowded  and  busy  Fifteenth  "Ward.  It  is  entirely 
practicable  to  bring  the  standard  of  health  throughout  the  city  up 
to  the  present  standard  in  that  ward.  Good  Sanitary  regulations 
would  bring  up  the  health-standard  in  some  wards,  the  Twenty- 
first,  or  Murray  Hill  district,  for  example,  to  a  point  considerably 
higher  than  that  of  the  Fifteenth.  The  entire  city,  with  a  death- 
rate  of  1  in  60,  which  is  the  present  rate  of  mortality  in  a  central, 
crowded,  but  salubrious  ward,  the  total  mortality  of  the  city  would 
be  at  the  rate  of  but  1Q,6QQ  to  the  million,  instead  of  ranging  as  it 
now  does  from  25,500  to  35,000  deaths  to  the  million  of  the  inhab- 
tants.  And  if,  for  the  present,  the  death-rate  in  the  city  were 
brought  down  to  the  standard  which,  by  the  agency  of  Sani- 
tary works,  was  speedily  reached  in  London,  and  which  New  York 
enjoyed  fifty  years  ago,  under  better  Sanitary  regulations  than 
are  now  enforced,  namely,  about  1  death  to  every  45  of  the  pop- 
ulation, it  still  would  be  too  high  a  rate  of  mortality,  though  it 
would  be  a  saving  of  several  thousand  lives  annually  upon  the  pres- 
ent mortality. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  state  concerning  this  subject  of  standards 
of  sickness  and  mortality  in  a  city  like  New  York,  that  however 
fluctuating  and  difficult  to  estimate,  they  are  undoubtedly  far 
higher  than  they  should  be  in  this  city,  and  that  both  the  causes 
and  consequences  are  of  vital  importance  as  relating  to  economical, 
social,  and  moral  questions  that  should  receive  the  earnest  atten- 
tion of  every  citizen ;  for  the  preventable  sickness,  and  the  unneces- 
sary mortality  in  our  city,  stand  connected  with  the  chief  sources 
of  the  pauperism  and  vices  of  particular  classes  that  most  burden 
society ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  same  causes  of  insalubrity 
operate  with  increasing  pressure,  and  most  unfavorably,  upon  the 
individual  and  the  public  health  and  happiness  of  the  more  favored 
classes  of  the  population. 

PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE. 

From  the  facts  stated  in  the  preceding  pages,  it  is  manifest 
that  the  causes  of  excessive  rates  of  sickness  and  mortality  are 
abundantly  open  to  observation  and  study  in  various  districts  of 


xlviii 


PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE. 


this  city.  "We  have  seen  that  a  mixed  and  crowded  population 
inhabiting  a  ward  (the  Fifteenth)  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  has  an 
annual  death-rate  of  less  than  two  per  cent.,  while  in  certain  other 
wards  of  the  city,  where  special  and  removable  sources  of  insalu- 
brity exist,  the  annual  death-rate  reaches,  and  even  exceeds  four  per 
cent,  of  the  resident  population.  In  one  case  there  is  but  one  death 
in  fifty  and  upward,  and  in  the  other  there  is  one  death  in  twenty- 
four  of  the  inhabitants.  These  widely  marked  and  sharp  contrasts 
are  observed  no  less  in  the  relative  amounts,  or  rates  of  sickness, 
than  in  the  rates  of  mortality ;  and  in  the  study  of  causes  that  in- 
duce and  perpetuate  the  diseases  which  prevail  in  the  insalubrious 
quarters,  the  physician  finds  the  full  explanation  of  such  wide 
difference  in  the  sickness  and  death-rates  of  particular  localities. 

Though,  from  the  duties  of  his  profession,  the  physician  must 
give  constant  attention  to  the  means  of  curing  disease,  nevertheless 
the  importance  of  observing,  and,  when  practicable,  controlling  the 
causes  that  produce  sickness  and  excessive  mortality,  has  ever  been 
regarded  as  a  paramount  obligation  of  the  medical  adviser.  The 
history  of  the  medical  profession  in  its  relation  to  physical  and 
social  improvements  in  populous  communities  is  full  of  instructive 
illustrations  of  the  beneficial  results  of  inquiry  into  the  causes  of 
prevalent  and  fatal  diseases.  In  great  cities,  where  our  dwellings, 
our  offices  and  warehouses,  the  articles  of  our  food,  the  water 
and  beverages  we  drink,  the  drainage,  occupation  and  cleansing  of 
the  premises  about  us,  and  even  the  quality  of  the  air  we  breathe, 
are  determined  by  other  persons,  or  but  in  small  part  by  ourselves, 
there  exists  an  incessant  demand  for  watchfulness  against  the 
agencies  which  are  detrimental  to  health  or  destructive  to  life. 
That  a  necessity  for  such  watchfulness  exists  throughout  the  city 
of  New  York,  is  shown  by  abounding  evidence  in  the  Reports  of 
the  Sanitary  Inspectors  in  the  second  part  of  this  volume. 

By  referring  to  the  testimony  and  the  Records  of  the  Sanitary 
Inspectors,  it  will  be  observed  that  particular  diseases  are  described 
in  connection  with  special  conditions  of  insalubrity.  Typhus  fever 
and  consumption  are  found  in  the  overcrowded  tenant-houses,  and 
in  dark  and  noisome  quarters  excluded  from  sunlight  and  fresh  air. 
Cholera  infantum,  dysentery,  diarrhocal  diseases,  and  various 
typhoid  maladies  are  found  to  prevail  in  badly  drained  and 
neglected  streets  and  alleys,  and  in  cellars,  or  in  damp  and  filthy 


PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE. 


xlix 


domiciles  surrounded  by  nuisances  and  poisonous  effluvia.  In  such 
localities  it  has  also  been  observed  that  scrofulous,  rheumatic,  and 
eruptive  diseases  prevail,  and  that  the  average  or  constant  sickness- 
rate  in  the  families  and  houses  so  situated  is  very  high,  the  pro- 
portionate number  of  persons  sick,  or  the  total  days  of  sickness, 
being  three,  five,  or  even  ten  times  the  ratio  of  sickness  in  the 
localities  where  better  sanitary  care  prevails.  And  when  the 
medical  observer  comes  to  inquire  into  the  predominant  causes  of 
prevailing  sickness,  he  finds  that  physical  and  rational  evidences 
combine  with  overwhelming  proof  that  these  specific  and  remov- 
able physical  conditions  both  produce  and  perpetuate  such  sickness. 
The  chief  causes  concerned  in  producing  the  preventable  class  of 
diseases  may  be  enumerated  under  two  heads,  as  follows : 

1.  External  conditions  of  insalubrity. 

2.  Personal  causes  of  disease. 

These  two  classes  of  causes  are  often  associated  and  powerfully 
cooperative,  but  in  this  Report  our  attention  will  be  confined  to 
the  external  and  positively  removable  sources  of  sickness  and 
mortality.  The  worst  personal  causes  of  fatal  disease  not  infre- 
quently result  from  faulty  external  conditions,  and  they  are  at  the 
same  time  so  intimately  associated  with  the  worst  moral  evils  and 
social  misfortunes  of  the  laboring  classes.  Therefore,  in  undertaking 
to  discover  and  describe  that  class  of  the  material  causes  of  disease 
and  public  insalubrity  which  is  removable  by  means  of  a  Sanitary 
Police,  it  has  naturally  resulted  that  the  subject  of  personal  hygiene 
and  social  improvement  could  not  fail  to  be  thoughtfully  consid- 
ered ;  and  in  all  the  efforts  that  have  been  put  forth  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  merely  external  gross  material  sources  of  insalubrity, 
it  is  found  that  the  correlative  personal  and  social  causes  of  preva- 
lent diseases  are  the  more  clearly  understood,  and  the  more  readily 
mitigated.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said,  in  the  words  of  an  eminent 
writer  on  sanitary  improvement,  "  the  truth  is,  that,  whenever  we 
begin  by  reforming  one  thing,  we  end  by  reforming  a  great  many 
more  things  in  our  social  organization."  The  Sanitary  Inspectors 
who  have  completed  the  survey  upon  which  this  Report  is  based, 
have  not  been  unmindful  of  the  correlation  of  the  personal  and 
social, and  the  purely  external  causes  of  insalubrity  ;  and  for  illus- 
trations of  the  manner  in  which  such  correlation  of  causes  has  been 
studied,  we  might  refer  to  the  Reports  of  the  Eleventh,  Twelfth, 
4 


1 


KEPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


Eighteenth,  and  Twentieth  Inspection  Districts.  But  great  and 
urgent  as  are  the  social  wants,  and  the  necessity  for  improvement 
in  personal  hahits  and  self-care,  in  particular  classes,  the  Council  of 
Hygiene  and  its  corps  of  assistants  have  regarded  the  discovery  and 
removal  of  external  causes  of  disease,  and  the  suggestion  of  plans 
for  rescuing  and  protecting  the  community  from  evils  that  can 
only  be  prevented  or  controlled  by  intelligent  and  cooperative 
efforts,  as  being  the  first  object  of  sanitary  inquiry.  Improve- 
ment in  personal  and  social  conditions  will  follow  close  upon  gen- 
eral hygienic  provisions,  and  at  the  same  time  much  needs  to  be 
done  to  diffuse  popular  information  respecting  the  laws  of  health, 
and  to  impress  all  classes  in  the  community  with  a  sacred  regard 
for  human  life,  and  for  personal  purity.  The  health  missionary  is 
always  a  pioneer  to  works  of  social  improvement.  In  great  cities 
the  moral  aspects  of  sanitary  works  are  peculiarly  important. 

Although  the  removable  causes  of  sickness  and  mortality  are 
not  exclusively  confined  to  cities,  they  exist  in  more  aggravated 
and  multiplied  forms,  and  are  generally  capable  of  being  more 
definitely  reached,  and  not  less  certainly  removed,  than  in  rural 
districts.  Stagnant  waters  and  undrained  lowlands  do  not  more 
certainly  produce  malaria  or  the  ague  poison,  than  do  the  un- 
ventilated  and  overcrowded  tenant-houses  invite  and  localize  the 
poison  of  typhus,  or  the  filthy  streets,  the  reeking  gutters  and 
garbage  boxes,  and  the  untrapped  drains  and  sewers,  and  the 
general  neglect  of  domestic  cleanliness,  induce  and  intensify  the 
typhoid,  diarrhceal,  and  cholera  poisons.  Experience  has  proved 
that  all  these  sources  of  disease  are  removable,  and  that  the  preva- 
lence of  such  maladies  is  preventable.  And  as  to  the  comparative 
facility  and  certainty  of  effecting  the  prevention  of  malarial  disease 
by  drainage  and  agriculture,  and  of  removing  the  chief  causes  of 
febrile  and  wasting  maladies,  by  means  of  thorough  ventilation  and 
civic  cleanliness,  experience  is  in  favor  of  the  latter.  It  certainly 
was  a  more  expensive  and  difficult  work  to  drain  the  bogs  of  Eome 
and  the  Pontine  marshes,  than  was  the  maintenance  of  the  local 
drainage  and  cleanliness  of  the  city  and  its  domiciles ;  and  in  the 
filling  and  drainage  of  the  Minor  Velabrum  and  the  swamps  of 
Lake  Curtius,  more  time  and  treasure  were  expended  than  were  re- 
quired for  the  maintenance  of  the  complete  system  of  local  drainage 
and  cleanliness  of  the  vast  Colosseum  that  subsequently  attracted 


PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE. 


li 


to  the  same  locality,  and  held  for  days  at  a  time,  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  pleasure  seekers  whose  health  and  lives,  but  for  the  means 
of  drainage  and  purity  there  provided,  would  have  been  fearfully 
jeoparded.* 

The  nature  of  the  marsh  malaria  may  remain  undetermined 
for  another  generation,  yet  its  causes  are  now  so  well  understood, 
that  the  rustic  yeoman  and  the  humblest  villager  know  that  fever 
and  ague  disappear  under  the  influence  of  thorough  drainage  and 
agriculture,  and  that  these  simple  agencies  are  as  effective  for  the 
prevention  of  malarial  maladies  as  quinine  is  specific  in  their  cure. 

The  fact  has  long  been  established,  that  typhus  fever  owes  it3 
origin  to  overcrowding,  uncleanliness,  and  want  of  ventilation  ;  and 
that,  when  once  the  fever  poison  gains  a  foothold  in  domiciles 
where  these  evils  prevail,  its  ravages  are  inevitable.  In  such 
localities  the  deadly  poison  will  be  perpetuated,  while  all  classes 
of  people  who  are  exposed  therein,  peril  life  and  health  to  them- 
selves and  their  families.  Typhus  is  preventable  by  means  of 
cleanliness  and  a  constant  supply  of  fresh  air,  but  without  those 
agencies  its  infectious  poison  is  uncontrollable  in  a  populous  city 
bike  New  York.  For  fresh  illustrations  of  the  persistent  adherence 
of  the  typhus  poison  in  its  primitive  haunts  in  this  city,  we  would 
call  attention  to  the  facts  stated  in  the  Sanitary  Inspection  Reports 
of  the  First,1  Third,3  Fourth,3  Sixth,4  Fourteenth,4  Fifteenth,6  and 
Eighteenth'  Districts ;  while  for  an  example  of  the  sanative  results 
of  cleansing  and  ventilation  where  the  fever  poison  had  gained  a 
foothold,  we  may  refer  to  statements  made  by  the  Sanitary  In- 
spectors of  the  Third,  and  Twenty-first  District. 

That  the  chief  causes  of  that  type  of  continued  fever  which  is 
denominated  typhoid  or  enteric  can  readily  be  controlled  and  remov- 
ed by  human  agency,  has  been  well  settled  as  a  medical  fact ;  and 
that  all  the  more  prevalent  kinds  of  diarrhceal  maladies  are  induced 

*  The  Colosseum  comprised  within  its  walls  an  area  of  249,840  superficial  feet;  and 
it  was  necessary  to  provide  conveniences  for  70,000  to  80,000  persons  constantly  assem- 
bled to  witness  the  games,  etc.,  and  who  often  remained  riveted  to  the  spot  for  days 
together.  For  a  description  of  its  system  of  drainage,  see  evidence  given  by  Ed.  Crcsy, 
C.  E.,  before  the  Metropolitan  Sanitary  Commission,  pp.  333-335,  First  Report,  1847. 

1  See  Second  Fart,  pp.  6,  8,  9.  3  See  Second  Part,  pp.  29-31.  '  See  Second  Part,  pp. 
52,  64,  66,  58,  62.  *  See  Second  Part,  pp.  78-80.  *  See  Second  Part,  pp.  168-169.  1  See 
Second  Part,  pp.  179-180.   '  See  Second  Part,  pp.  216-218. 


lii 


KEP0RT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


by  causes  that  are  removable,  is  also  a  well-established  fact.  Clean- 
liness, and  the  removal  or  avoidance  of  all  kinds  of  putrefactive 
exhalations,  together  with  proper  care  in  the  selection  of  food 
articles,  are  the  indispensable  means  of  protection  from  this  class 
of  diseases.  Surely  no  intelligent  person  can  deny  that  these  ne- 
cessary means  of  health  can  be  provided  by  municipal  authority, 
especially  if  such  authority  is  supported  by  competent  sanitary 
advice.  True,  in  the  city  of  New  York  the  beneficent  results  of 
adequate  care  of  the  public  health  are  looked  for  in  vain  ;  but  this 
is  only  in  consequence  of  the  blind  neglect  of  the  official  authorities 
of  the  city  and  the  State  to  provide  a  proper  system  and  adminis- 
tration of  sanitary  government.  Yet,  notwithstanding  the  want 
of  adequate  sanitary  regulations,  this  city  is  blessed  with  a  system 
of  water  supply  which  excels  that  of  any  other  city  of  equal  pop- 
ulation upon  the  globe,  and  which  for  years  past  has  exerted  a 
most  direct  and  important  influence  in  protecting  the  inhabitants 
from  the  general  prevalence  of  typhoid  infections  and  diarrhceal 
diseases.  Indeed,  the  Croton-water,  in  its  universal  distribution 
and  abundant  supply  everywhere  throughout  the  city,  tempting  to 
cleanliness  of  person  and  premises,  preventing  the  use  of  water 
saturated  with  organic  poisons  from  wells,  and  of  worse  poisons  from 
stills,  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  chief  agency  of  sanitary  protection 
which  the  city  enjoys.  Especially  as  regards  the  preventable 
diseases  above  mentioned,  Croton-water  is  to-day  the  only  well- 
administered  agency  of  sanitary  protection  which  the  Government 
provides.  But,  alone,  this  agency  is  insufficient  to  guard  against 
the  incursions  of  the  diseases  here  named;  and,  when  house  drain- 
age and  sewer  cleansing  are  neglected,  and  when,  in  crowded  courts 
and  in  obstructed  gutters  and  cesspools,  the  filthy  ooze  and  fever- 
breeding  exhalations  are  kept  up  by  means  of  waste  water  and 
putrefying  organic  matters,  even  the  rich  blessing  of  abundant 
water-supply  becomes  in  particular  instances  a  source  of  disease. 
Nevertheless,  the  value  of  the  benefits  outweigh  the  aggregate  of 
the  evils  from  the  neglect,  even  in  such  instances. 

The  preventable  diseases  already  mentioned  caused,  during  the 
year  1863,  a  large  percentage  of  the  total  mortality.  The  total 
amount  of  sickness  from  these  diseases  may  properly  be  estimated 
in  accordance  with  the  principles  laid  down  on  a  previous  page. 
But  these  are  but  a  few  of  the  diseases  which  are  most  invariably 


PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE. 


liii 


caused  by  preventable  or  removable  causes.  Too  commonly 
they  are  regarded  as  inevitable  maladies,  tbat  can  only  be  averted 
by  Providence.  The  Council  of  Hygiene  expresses  tbe  rational 
convictions  of  the  medical  profession  upon  this  subject,  by  stating 
that  the  chief  causes  are  within  the  range  and  the  duty  of  human 
control ;  and  that  neither  the  truths  of  science  nor  a  true  respect 
for  the  beneficent  Deity  and  His  will,  can  warrant  the  opinion  that 
man  is  irresponsible  for  the  occurrence  of  evils  that  can  and 
ought  to  be  prevented  by  human  effort  and  obedience  to  the 
Creator's  laws.  Perhaps  no  clearer  expression  can  be  given  to  the 
truth  relating  to  this  subject,  than  that  embodied  in  a  reply  of 
the  Prime  Minister  of  Great  Britain,  when  he  was  urged  to  pro- 
cure a  royal  order  for  a  national  fast,  etc.,  in  anticipation  of  an 
approaching  visitation  of  cholera.  In  that  communication,  Lord 
Palmerston  said  that  "  the  best  course  which  the  people  of  this 
country  can  pursue  to  deserve  that  the  further  progress  of  the 
cholera  should  be  stayed,  will  be  to  employ  the  interval  that  will 
elapse  between  the  present  time  and  the  beginning  of  next  spring 
in  planning  and  executing  measures  by  which  those  portions  of 
their  towns  and  cities  which  are  inhabited  by  the  poorest  classes, 
and  which,  from  the  nature  of  things,  must  most  need  purification 
and  improvement,  may  be  freed  from  those  causes  and  sources  of 
contagion  which,  if  allowed  to  remain,  will  probably  breed  pesti- 
lence and  be  fruitful  in  death,  in  spite  of  all  the  prayers  and  fast- 
ings of  a  united  but  inactive  people."  * 

The  rapid  progress  of  knowledge,  the  marvellous  increase  of 
human  power  over  the  elements  of  nature,  by  means  of  the  applied 
sciences,  the  requirements  of  humanity,  and  an  advancing  civiliza- 
tion, together  with  the  lessons  and  the  light  of  past  experience  in 
great  cities,  combine  to  make  plain  the  duty  and  the  practicability 
of  Sanitary  works  and  regulations  which  shall  redeem  the  city  of 
New  York  from  the  scourge  of  fever  and  kindred  maladies  that 
now  infest  its  tenant-houses  and  crowded  districts. 

The  fevers  and  diarrhoeal  maladies  have  been  mentioned  as 
types  of  diseases  that  are  produced  and  perpetuated  by  preventable 
causes,  but  there  are  still  other  classes  of  disease  which  are  scarcely 
less  preventable.  One  is  even  more  so,  viz.,  small-pox,  which,  since 
the  discovery  of  Jenner,  may  be  regarded  as  wholly  preventable. 

*  Buckle's  History  of  Civilization  in  England,  vol.  ii.,  page  467. 


liv 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


The  entire  category  of  the  exanthematous  diseases  may  be  regard- 
ed as  coming  partially  under  the  head  of  preventable  evils ;  the 
excessive  mortality  that  results  from  them  may  at  least  be  regarded 
as  being  dependent  upon  removable  causes.  In  reference  to  this 
subject,  particular  attention  is  invited  to  the  statements  which  are 
embodied  in  the  Sanitary  Inspection  Reports.  The  fearful  mortal- 
ity which  attends  the  prevalence  of  scarlatina  and  measles  in  the 
crowded  and  neglected  portions  of  the  city,  as  well  as  the  thought- 
less and  hazardous  exposure  of  the  active  sources  of  these  diseases 
to  all  classes  of  susceptible  persons,  in  the  hotels,  and  the  public  con- 
veyances and  streets  of  the  city,  may  justly  be  regarded  as  a  sub- 
ject demanding  public  and  official  attention.  A  committee  of  the 
Council  of  Hygiene  has  already  prepared  a  special  report  upon 
the  points  last  mentioned.* 

Small-pox  is  prevailing  as  an  epidemic  in  New  York  during 
the  present  winter  (1865),  and  so  extensive  was  the  epidemic  at 
one  period  that  the  corps  of  Sanitary  Inspectors  under  direction  of 
this  Council  gathered  up  the  records  of  fifteen  hundred  cases  of 
variola  and  varioloid  in  the  course  of  a  few  days.  That  such  an 
epidemic  of  small-pox  should  have  occurred  in  a  civilized  city  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  with  the  decisive  experience  of  two  gene- 
rations from  Jenner's  great  discovery  of  the  protective  power  of 
Vaccination  well  understood  and  accepted,  is  of  itself  an  ignoble 
commentary  upon  the  sanitary  neglect  and  defective  intelligence 
in  administration  that  have  rendered  such  an  outbreak  of  that 
loathsome  malady  possible.  In  a  subsequent  section,  under  the 
head  of  Remedial  Measures,  the  Council  will  have  occasion  to  re- 
fer to  the  subject  of  Vaccination.  The  fact  is  universally  conceded 
that  the  means  of  preventing  an  epidemic  of  small-pox  are  in  our 
hands,  and  that  by  a  simple  and  inoffensive  proceeding,  easy  of 
application  and  certain  in  its  results,  every  person  in  the  city  may 
and  should  be  protected  from  the  disease.  From  the  time  when 
Jenner  introduced  the  application  of  his  discovery,  in  the  year 
1798,  and  when  but  two  years  later  its  benefits  were  coufirmed  by 
experience  in  New  York,  there  has  been  no  lack  of  testimony  to 
the  fact  that  vaccination  affords  positive  protection.    "  It  was  not, 

•  See  the  report  of  that  committee,  published  by  the  Council  of  Hygiene  ;  also  a  paper 
by  Dr.  Robert  Druitt,  upon  the  Eradication  of  Domestic  Pestilence. — Transactions  of  Oit 
National  Association  for  Promoting  Social  Science,  1860. 


PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE. 


lv 


then,  because  Jenner's  discovery  was  unappreciated  among  us  that 
we  have  failed  to  enjoy  to  the  full  the  immunity  to  be  derived 
from  it,  but  because  we  had  long  accustomed  ourselves  to  consid- 
er that  the  prevention  of  disease,  even  when  epidemic,  was  a  mat- 
ter chiefly  of  private  concern."  Left  thus  to  the  precarious 
chances  of  casual,  voluntary,  and  entirely  unorganized  methods 
and  occasions  for  applying  this  grand  preventive  against  a  dread- 
ful malady,  the  good  work  that  should  have  been  done  has  not 
been,  and  will  not  be  generally  or  faithfully  done,  nor  can  it 
be  without  the  aid  of  an  adequate  system,  authorized  or  provided 
for  by  municipal  or  State  laws.  Hence  it  is  not  strange  that  this 
city  has  for  many  years  contained  a  great  number  of  foci  of  the  small- 
pox virus,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  scourge  is  now  epidemic. 
In  the  month  of  April,  1864,  when  a  member  of  this  Council  was 
preparing  plans  for  a  voluntary  survey  of  the  sanitary  condition 
of  the  city,  he  visited  five  domiciles  in  a  single  hour  in  which 
small-pox  was  prevailing  within  fifty  feet  of  the  largest  dry  goods 
jobbing  houses  on  the  continent ;  and  he  saw  children  from  whose 
faces  the  crusts  of  the  pock  had  not  yet  fallen,  passing  back  and 
forth  through  the  narrow  alley  leading  to  their  pestilential  homes, 
and  gathering  unrestrained,  and  apparently  unnoticed,  about  the 
entrances  to  the  stores  and  offices  in  the  vicinity.  And  upon  in- 
quiry at  that  time,  the  fact  was  ascertained  that  small-pox  had  been 
constantly  prevalent  throughout  that  neighborhood  for  several 
months,  that  a  succession  of  tenants,  incoming  and  outgoing,  had 
kept  up  a  supply  of  fresh  victims  to  the  loathsome  malady.  A 
chart  of  the  district  here  referred  to,  will  be  found  in  the  second 
part  of  this  Report  [page  31].  From  the  testimony  of  the  Sani- 
tary Inspector  and  persons  residing  in  that  district,  it  appears  that 
the  epidemics  of  these  two  diseases  continued  to  prevail  together, 
or  in  succession,  in  these  domiciles  for  more  than  a  year  previous 
to  January,  1865.* 

*  At  last  these  epidemics  have  died  out.  The  two  diseases  swept  like  a  slow  fire 
throughout  the  insalubrious  quarters,  until  there  was  scarcely  any  susceptible  material 
remaining  ;  that  is,  these  maladies  have  apparently  burned  out,  as  persons  are  not  liable  to 
immediate  reattacks  of  either  of  them.  By  referring  to  the  illustrative  chart  above  men- 
tioned, it  will  be  seen  that  one  or  both  of  the  diseases  prevailed  during  the  year  in  sixty 
out  of  the  ninety-six  houses  in  six  small  blocks ;  that  there  was  fever  in  fifty-two  of  the 
houses ;  small-pox  in  thirty-four ;  and  that  there  were  only  two  domiciles  in  which  the 
latter  disease  occurred,  that  were  not  also  visited  by  the  fever.    Such  is  the  history  of  the 


Ivi 


KEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


The  foregoing  statement  seems  to  illustrate  the  manner  in 
which  the  removable  causes  of  disease  and  mortality  are  permitted 
to  exist  in  this  city ;  and  upon  examining  the  Reports  of  the  Sani- 
tary Inspectors,  the  truth  regarding  sources  of  disease  appears  to 
be,  that  two  classes  of  such  preventable  causes  are  continually  active 
in  producing  and  diffusing  diseases  throughout  the  city,  and  that 
these  two  methods  of  propagating  disease  are  fearfully  active  and 
cooperative  in  particular  districts.  These  strictly  preventable 
agencies  of  disease  are  properly  designated  as — (1)  the  Specific 
causes ;  (2)  the  Localizing  causes. 

THE  SPECIFIC  CAUSES  OF  CERTAIN  DISEASES. 

The  small-pox  virus,  always  directly  contagious,  and  also  in- 
fectious to  a  considerable  distance  beyond  the  person  of  the  sick, 
and  the  typhus  poison  which  is  also  communicable  by  personal  in- 
fection, are  typical  examples  of  certain  specific  causes  of  disease, 
which,  if  unguarded,  will  surely  endanger  the  public  health. 
In  the  city  of  New  York  these  specific  sources  of  infection  have 
become  so  numerous,  and  so  intensified  by  their  increasing  preva- 
lence, that  no  district  or  street  in  the  city  is  free  from  the  peril 
of  exposure  to  the  maladies  here  mentioned.  Within  a  single 
block  from  the  elegant  mansions  of  Stuyvesant  Square,  is  a  row 
of  tenant-houses  in  which  typhus  has  been  constantly  prevailing 
for  more  than  a  year  past ;  from  one  of  these  houses,  in  which 
reside  twenty  families,  the  Sanitary  Inspector  reports  that  he  has 
sent  more  than  twenty  patients  to  the  fever  hospital  during  the  year 
18G4,  and  that  at  least  eighty  cases  of  the  fever  occurred  in  that 
house  during  the  year.  Again,  in  a  group  of  crowded  tenant-houses 
near  the  corner  of  Mulberry  and  Canal  streets,  typhus  has  prevailed 
very  fatally,  and  almost  "constantly,  the  past  three  years;  and  during 
the  first  two  months  of  the  winter  of  1865,  twenty-three  patients 
and  five  deaths  from  that  fever  were  witnessed  by  the  Sanitary  Inspec- 
tor in  two  of  the  smaller  houses.  In  another  quarter,  upon  a  great 
thoroughfare,  the  infection  of  typhus  has  for  a  long  time  been  so 
virulent  aud  fatal,  that  in  consequence  of  the  panic  it  creates  among 
the  families  which  it  enters,  a  perpetual  succession  of  hasty  remov- 
als both  of  families  and  fever  patients  has  been  kept  up  during 

favorite  haunts  of  fever,  and  the  other  preventable  forms  of  disease.  They  seek  the  same 
habitations,  because  they  are  subject  to  the  same  localizing  causes. 


PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE. 


Ivii 


the  year,  and  by  that  means  the  seventy-four  domiciles  of  that  sin- 
gle rookery  have  sent  out  an  incessant  and  widely-distributed  cur- 
rent of  the  typhus  poison  to  other  and  distant  sections  of  the  city. 
Illustrations  of  the  evil  here  referred  to  have  been  frequently  pre- 
sented to  the  attention  of  the  Council.  A  single  instance  may 
properly  be  given  in  this  place : 

An  Inspector  reported  the  following  facts  that  came  under  his 
observation :  A  man  residing  in  the  Eleventh  Ward  was  sick  with 
typhus  fever,  and  died ;  a  few  days  subsequently  a  daughter  of  the 
deceased,  residing  in  the  Seventeenth  "Ward,  having  visited  her 
father  while  he  was  sick,  was  attacked  by  the  same  fever,  and  died. 
At  the  same  time  another  daughter,  whose  residence  was  in  Brook- 
lyn, became  ill  with  the  fever  she  had  contracted  in  her  father's 
sick-room,  and  she  died;  another  sister,  residing  in  Avenue  A, 
contracted  the  same  fever  while  visiting  the  father  and  sisters  when 
sick.  Another  relative,  whose  residence  was  in  Sixteenth  Street, 
also  a  son  and  another  daughter  of  the  first  deceased  patient,  resid- 
ing in  Eleventh  Street,  were  attacked  with  the  same  fever  in  con- 
sequence of  their  visits  to  the  sick-rooms  of  the  first  and  the  second 
of  the  patients  here  mentioned.  The  Inspector  reports  that  eight 
cases  of  the  fever  thus  sprung  from  a  common  centre,  and  by  dis- 
tribution in  as  many  different  localities  created  as  many  new  cen- 
tres of  infection  and  danger.  Again,  in  the  stated  weekly  Reports 
of  another  Sanitary  Inspector,  the  following  statement  of  facts  in- 
cidentally appears :  A  young  man  residing  with  his  parents  in 
Thirty-Second  Street,  contracted  typhus  at  the  bedside  of  a  sick 
friend  in  another  block ;  his  father,  in  turn,  contracted  the  same 
fever  from  the  son,  and  died ;  and  there  followed  three  other  cases 
of  fever  in  the  same  family.  From  this  family  the  fever  poison 
was  communicated  to  visitors  from  a  family  in  another  block,  in 
which  family  there  occurred  six  cases  in  succession,  and  two  deaths; 
and  during  that  period  the  fever  was  communicated  to  two  neigh- 
boring families  in  the  same  house.  In  the  mean  time  some  of  these 
people,  being  alarmed  at  the  spread  and  fatality  of  the  disease,  re- 
moved to  another  block,  and  carried  the  infection  of  fever  with 
them.  Next,  the  Inspector  found  the  same  fever  spreading  through 
families  in  Twenty-eighth  Street,  and  was  able  to  trace  its  introduc- 
tion directly  to  the  fountain  of  infection  that  has  just  been  men- 
tioned in  Thirty-first  Street.  Thus,  in  a  period  of  a  few  weeks  the, 


Iviii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HTGIENE. 


Inspector  found  that  seventeen  cases  of  typhus  in  five  families,  and 
in  four  distinct  localities,  resulted  from  the  careless  exposure  of  the 
fever  patients  to  promiscuous  visitors.  And  all  this  was  hut  the 
beginning  of  an  evil,  the  records  of  which  are  still  in  progress. 

Though,  as  will  presently  he  shown,  there  are  causes  which 
localize  and  give  increased  virulence  to  fever  and  all  other  zymotic 
diseases  in  the  city,  the  facts  respecting  the  careless  and  unguarded 
exposure  and  dissemination  of  the  specific  personal  sources  of  in- 
fectious maladies  in  the  community  should  no  longer  be  overlooked 
by  the  public  authorities ;  much  less  should  the  people  be  permit- 
ted to  remain  uninstructed  and  unadvised  concernina;  such  sources 
of  danger.  The  records  which  have  been  carefully  and  systemat- 
ically made  respecting  the  present  epidemic  of  small-pox  are  replete 
with  evidence  that  the  utmost  neglect  of  common  precautions 
against  the  diffusion  of  small-pox  virus  has  prevailed ;  as  well  as 
that,  until  the  epidemic  had  created  a  panic,  the  public  authorities 
had  made  no  efforts  to  arrest  the  spread  of  the  malady  by  advising 
and  providing  vaccination.  Even  in  the  midst  of  the  epidemic  the 
means  that  are  provided  are  utterly  inadequate,  and  they  are  un- 
worthy of  a  civilized  community.  Neither  the  city  nor  the  State 
has  made  any  provision  of  trustworthy  material  and  measures  for 
vaccination ;  the  community  remains  unadvised  regarding  the  re- 
quisite precautions  to  be  employed  against  the  direct  dissemination 
of  the  virus  of  small-pox,  and  no  sanitary  and  police  surveillance 
guards  against  the  indiscriminate  use  of  the  public  hacks,  ferry- 
boats, railway-cars,  restaurants,  public  thoroughfares,  clothing 
manufactories,  and  crowded  dwellings,  in  which  the  poison  of  this 
loathsome  disease  continues  to  be  exposed.  The  facts  upon  this 
subject,  as  recorded  and  verified  by  the  faithful  Sanitary  Inspectors, 
who  are  still  continuing  their  inquiry  under  the  direction  of  the 
Council  of  Hygiene,  are  such  as  should  arouse  the  intelligent  in- 
dignation of  the  public* 

*  As  the  expediency  of  publishing  details  upon  the  subject  here  referred  to  is  justly 
questionable,  it  may  be  best  to  state  in  general  terms  that  during  the  past  few  years  there 
had  been  an  increasing  negligence  of  all  reasonable  precautions  against  the  exposure  of 
small-pox  patients,  and  their  garments  and  all  other  materials,  which  by  contact  with  the 
sick  had  become  fomitcs  of  the  small-pox  virus.  Public  hacks  and  railway  cars  have 
been  freely  used  by  persons  in  all  stages  of  small-pox ;  the  clothing  of  patients  who  died  of 
that  malady  have  been  sold  to  dealers  in  old  clothes ;  and  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  furthor 


PREVENTABLE  CAUSES  OF  DISEASE. 


lix 


It  should  have  been  mentioned  that  subsequently  to  the  com- 
pletion of  the  General  Sanitary  Survey  of  the  city  by  the  corps  of 
Inspectors,  whose  reports  are  appended  as  a  body  of  evidence  in 
the  Second  Paet  of  this  volume,  the  same  physicians  have  been 
pursuing  a  systematic  course  of  inspection  and  inquiry  concerning 
small-pox  and  fever.  The  results  already  attained  in  this  inquiry 
present  overwhelming  proof  of  the  fact  that  both  the  specific  and 
the  general  or  localizing  causes  of  these  two  most  preventable  but 
fatal  maladies  have  been  and  still  continue  to  be  criminally 
neglected  by  the  municipal  authorities ;  and  further,  that  nearly 
all  classes  of  the  community  remain  in  comparative  or  utter  igno- 
rance of  the  perils  to  which  they  are  thus  exposed. 

The  Council  of  Hygiene  has  deemed  it  a  duty  to  make  a  record 
of  cases  illustrating  the  manner  in  which  small-pox  and  fevers  are 
spread  from  this  city  to  other  communities  ;  and,  in  the  course  of 
inquiries  upon  this  subject,  very  important  and  startling  testimony 
has  been  given  by  medical  practitioners  in  various  portions  of  the 
State  of  ISTe w  York,  and  by  physicians  in  various  cities  and  towns  that 
hold  daily  intercourse  with  this  city.  The  following  instances  will 
serve  as  illustrations  of  the  truth  that  has  been  elicited  upon  this 
subject : 

report  many  instances  in  which  they  found  persons  sick  with  small-pox  in  the  same  close 
apartment  with  tailors  who  were  working  upon  woollen  clothing.  In  other  instances  where 
the  children  of  poor  shirt-makers  were  sick  with  that  disease,  the  new  garments  and  the 
materials  in  hand  were  seen  used  as  covering  and  wrappers  upon  the  patients ;  every- 
where there  appeared  to  be  no  restraint  upon  the  ordinary  intercourse  with  families 
among  the  tenant-house  population  where  small-pox  was  prevailing ;  and  as  the  result  of 
searching  inquiry  into  the  history  of  more  than  twelve  hundred  cases  of  this  dreadful  dis- 
ease during  the  early  part  of  the  winter,  1865,  the  Inspectors  found  but  two  instances  in 
which  the  infected  domiciles  had  been  visited  by  any  officer  or  employe  of  the  Health 
department  of  the  city  government.  In  one  of  those  instances  the  so-called  Health  War- 
den stopped  at  the  foot  of  a  stairway  forty  feet  distant  from  the  poor  tenant  who  had  the 
disease,  and  delivered  his  orders  as  follows:  "Put  pieces  of  camphor  about  the  clothing 
of  those  who  are  not  sick,  and  occasionally  throw  some  camphor  upon  the  hot  stove." 
In  the  other  case  the  sanitary  officer  of  the  ward  called  at  the  entrance  of  a  tenant-house 
in  a  densely-crowded  district  and  instructed  the  poor  families  whose  domiciles  were  smit- 
ten with  the  contagion,  that  they  must  not  permit  any  person  to  know  or  to  mention 
that  there  was  small-pox  there,  and  that  if  that  injunction  of  secrecy  were  not  strictly 
obeyed  he  would  send  them  all  to  the  pest-house ! 

Facts  like  these  require  no  comment  from  this  Council.  They  call  for  indignation  as 
well  as  for  a  renewed  effort  of  the  citizens  of  this  metropolis  to  provide  some  means  for 
protecting  the  people  against  such  evils. 


lx 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


Dr.  Jenks  S.  Sprague,  of  Cooperstown,  N.  T.,  feports  the  oc- 
currence of  twenty-six  cases  of  small-pox  in  that  town,  comnmni- 
cated  by  a  merchant  who  visited  the  city  and  put  up  at  a  hotel  in 
which  small-pox  existed,  and  in  which  a  patient  died  with  the  dis- 
ease a  few  days  previously.  Besides  the  twenty-six  cases  in  Coop- 
erstown, there  were  many  other  persons  infected  with  the  disease, 
which  they  conveyed  from  that  village  into  country  districts.  Dr. 
Frederick  D.  Lente,  of  Cold  Spring,  Putnam  County,  writes  that 
"  we  have  had  three  instances  within  the  last  few  weeks  of  small- 
pox brought  to  this  village  by  persons  from  the  city  of  New  York;" 
and  he  adds,  "  I  think  they  get  it  in  many  instances  from  the  city 
railway  cars."  Dr.  Lente  relates  an  instance  that  confirms  this 
opinion.  Dr.  S.  W.  Turner,  of  Chester,  Ct.,  reports  three  instances 
of  the  communication  of  small-pox  from  New  York  to  his  neigh- 
borhood. In  one  instance  a  Broadway  merchant  was  attacked  with 
the  malady,  and,  returning  to  his  country  home,  he  conveyed  it  to 
his  family  there.  Dr.  C.  C.  Gay,  of  Buffalo,  also  reports  the  man- 
ner in  which  small-pox  spread  in  that  city  from  a  woman  who  ar- 
rived in  that  city  by  railway  from  New  York  with  that  malady. 
Dr.  C.  C.  Noble,  of  Waverly,  Tioga  County,  N,  Y.,  reports  the 
case  of  a  merchant  who  visited  this  city  and  put  up  at  a  hotel,  and 
in  an  apartment  in  which  there  had  been  a  patient  with  small-pox 
but  a  day  or  two  previously.  The  merchant  returned  home  with 
the  same  disease ;  six  other  cases  and  two  deaths  resulted  directly 
from  this  source  of  the  contagion.  Dr.  Jarvis,  of  Madison  County, 
N.  Y.,  reports  a  citizen  returned  from  a  business  visit  in  this  city, 
sick  with  small-pox,  and  that  the  contagion  was  directly  communi- 
cated to  fifteen  other  persons  in  the  vicinity  of  his  home,  and  ulti- 
mately to  many  neighborhoods  beyond  the  village  in  which  he  re- 
sided. Again,  it  is  reported  by  Dr.  Stevenson,  of  "Washington 
County,  N.  Y.,  that  a  man  residing  in  Hammond  Street,  New  York, 
being  sick  with  small-pox  at  its  stage  of  full  eruption,  took  the  cars 
to  Albany  and  to  his  father's  residence  in  the  town  of  Cambridge, 
and  that  the  contagion  was  immediately  communicated  to  his 
father's  family. 

Without  delaying  to  narrate  other  instances  of  this  kind,  the 
Council  beg  leave  to  refer  to  evidence  upon  this  subject  received 
from  Dr.  E.  M.  Snow,  the  well-known  and  faithful  Ileal th-0  nicer 
of  the  city  of  Providence,  E.  L    In  the  winter  of  1855-'5G  small- 


PREVENTABLE  CATTSES  OF  DISEASE. 


Ixi 


pox  was  introduced  into  that  city  by  a  direct  importation  of  the 
disease  from  New  York,  and  130  cases  occurred  in  rapid  succession 
from  that  one  source.  From  1856  to  1859  only  seven  cases  of  small- 
pox occurred  in  that  city ;  six  of  those-  were  known  to  have  been 
contracted  in  New  York.  All  classes  and  ages  of  the  population 
of  Providence  had  been  Araccinated,  and  consequently  the  disease 
did  not  spread.  But  during  the  years  1859-'60-'61  and  '62  small-pox 
continued  to  arrive  from  our  city,  and  it  spread  to  some  extent  each 
year.  Dr.  Snow  remarks  that  "  small-pox  comes  to  this  place  (Prov- 
idence) nearly  every  year,  and  usually  produces  an  epidemic  of  vac- 
cination, besides  causing  some  extension  of  its  own  contagion." 

Though  small-pox  is  the  most  contagious  and  most  readily  com- 
municated of  all  infectious  maladies,  there  is  abundant  testimony 
to  the  fact  that  typhus  fever,  scarlatina,  and  some  other  sources  of 
specific  febrile  infection,  occasionally  become  the  means  of  spreading 
their  fatal  poison  to  the  towns  and  cities  that  hold  daily  communi- 
cation with  New  York.  At  present  there  is  neither  any  sanitary 
police  surveillance  nor  any  official  advice  and  precaution  against 
the  propagation  and  wide  distribution  of  these  and  other  sources 
of  infection. 

Though  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  purely  voluntary  sys- 
tem of  investigation,  like  that  which  this  Council  has  undertaken, 
would  bring  forth  immediately,  and  in  a  single  season,  all  the  facts 
that  need  to  be  set  forth  upon  questions  relating  to  the  public 
health,  it  is  plain  that  with  facts  like  those  here  mentioned  con- 
stantly accumulating  and  continually  being  verified,  the  time  for 
reform  has  come.  A  great  commercial  city  like  New  York,  by 
permitting  such  evils  to  continue,  not  only  puts  in  jeopardy  the 
prosperity  of  trade  and  the  welfare  of  the  citizens,  but  also  becomes 
guilty  of  a  high  crime  against  society  at  large. 

In  reference  to  the  subject  here  presented,  this  Council  would 
recommend : 

First. — That  a  system  of  faithful  Medical  and  Sanitary  Inspection 
should  le  maintained  throughout  the  city,  for  the  purpose  of 
searching  out  and  reporting  to  a  central  authority  the  existence 
and  the  sources  of  fevers,  small-pox,  and  other  pestilential  dis- 
eases ;  and  that,  in  the  absence  of  a  competent  hoard  of  health, 
such  duties  of  inspection,  etc.,  should  le  maintained  by  volun- 


Ixii 


KEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


tary  organisation!  and, further,  that  such  sanitary  inquiry 
should  be  accompanied  by  the  needed  personal  advice,  and  such 
other  influences  as  would  tend  most  certainly  to  diminish  the 
evils  thus  discovered  and  reported* 
Second. — That  either  by  public  authority  and  a  competent  Bu- 
reau of  Hygiene,  or  by  voluntary  and  private  enterprise,  there 
shotdd  be  instituted  such  a  system  of  general  Inquiry  and  Ad- 
vice concerning  the  occurrence  and  spread  of  contagious  and 
dangerous  diseases,  as  will  not  only  enable  ths  people  of  the  city 
of  New  York  to  protect  themselves  against  dangers  that  now 
exist  in  their  midst,  but  also  more  effectually  guard  against 
small-pox  and  fever  from  external  sources,  and  at  the  same  time 
intelligently  provide  adequate  measures  to  prevent  the  spread  of 
such  infectious  diseases  from  this  city  to  other  communities. 

THE  LOCALIZING  CAUSES  OF  PEE  VAILING  DISEASES. 

It  lias  seemed  proper  in  this  Report  to  dwell  at  some  length 
upon  the  subject  of  those  specific  sources  of  disease  that  may  most 
certainly  be  wholly  removed  or  prevented  by  means  of  medical 
police  authority.  The  next  subject  which  presses  itself  upou  our 
consideration  may  be  best  comprehended  by  presenting  its  leading 
points,  under  the  general  head  of  the  Localizing  Causes  of  Pre- 
vailing Diseases.  By  this  term  it  is  to  be  understood  that  there 
are  causes  which  tend  to  determine  and  promote  the  prevalence  of 
disease  in  particular  localities. 

The  daily  records  of  the  medical  gentlemen  who  have  carried  on 
the  work  of  sanitary  inspection  in  this  city  are  full  of  testimony  to  the 
fact  that  the  prevalence  of  fever,  small-pox,  infantile,  diarrhceal  and 
pulmonary  diseases,  together  with  an  excessive  sickness  and  death- 
rate,  is  invariably  found  associated  with  certain  well-defined  local 

*  A  distinguished  leader  in  sanitary  improvement  in  Edinburgh  thus  sets  forth  the 
duty  of  "  organized  sanitary  inspection,  having  for  its  object  to  ascertain  facts  and  to  press 
home  the  consequences  of  them  upon  the  conscience  of  those  chiefly  concerned  " : 

"Where  we  cannot  legislate  we  can  still  teach;  where  we  cannot  command  we  can 
still  warn.  And  neither  the  existence  nor  the  absence  of  power,  neither  the  expediency 
nor  the  inexpediency  of  interference  by  the  authorities,  can  exempt  us  from  the  duty  of 
knowing  what  is  amiss,  and  diffusing  that  knowledge  far  and  wide.  For  this  is  a  case  in 
which,  literally  and  in  the  most  indisputable  sense,  the  people  are  '  perishing  for  lack  of 
knowledge.' " 


LOCALIZING  CAUSES  OF  PEEV AILING  DISEASES.  Ixiii 

conditions  which  are  unquestionably  the  chief  causes  of  such  ex- 
traordinary sickness  and  mortality.  Time  would  scarcely  permit 
us  to  review  and  give  illustrations  of  the  voluminous  testimony 
that  has  been  incidentally  accumulated  upon  this  subject  by  the 
corps  of  inspectors  during  the  past  season.  Suffice  it  to  state  here 
that  the  existing  fact  thus  reported  by  skilled  and  faithful  physi- 
cians, simply  confirms  what  reason  should  have  taught  every  per- 
son, however  uneducated,  that  filth,  overcrowding,  bad  drainage, 
excessive  humidity,  imperfect  supply  of  air  and  sunlight,  neglect 
of  excrementitious  and  decaying  material,  and  the  putrid  exhala- 
tions from  sinks,  sewers,  gutters,  and  dirty  streets,  will  both  pro- 
duce and  perpetuate  disease  ;  and  that  whatever  sickness  occurs  in 
such  localities  will  be  more  virulent  and  destructive  than  the  same 
or  similar  maladies  when  occurring  in  places  where  such  conditions 
do  not  prevail.* 

*  The  records  of  all  epidemics  of  cholera  as  well  as  of  fevers,  and  the  daily  observa- 
tions of  physicians  in  reference  to  ordinary  maladies,  fully  corroborate  this  view  of  the 
localizing  causes  of  prevalent  diseases.  The  following  brief  reference  to  a  few  instances 
will  sufficiently  illustrate  this  subject.  We  quote  familiar  facts  from  American  records, 
and  should  remark  that  the  history  of  epidemics  and  nearly  all  zymotic  diseases  in  Euro- 
pean towns  fully  confirms  the  conclusions  which  have  been  derived  from  medical  observa- 
tions in  our  American  cities  : 

(1.)  The  first  epidemic  of  cholera  in  the  city  of  New  York  made  its  appearance  first 
in  the  vicinity  of  Roosevelt  and  Cherry  Streets ;  and  nearly  at  the  same  time  it  appeared 
in  Reade,  Washington,  and  Duane  Streets.  The  Five  Points  and  the  whole  region  of  the 
Sixth  Ward  was  visited  by  the  epidemic  with  fearful  virulence.  "  Rotten  Row,"  in  Lau- 
rens between  Grand  and  Broome  Streets,  became  another  deadly  centre  of  the  malady. 
The  vicinity  of  Corlears  Hook,  including  portions  of  the  Seventh  and  Thirteenth  Wards, 
and  another  district  including  portions  of  the  Eleventh  and  the  Seventeenth  Wards,  con- 
stituted another  great  centre  for  the  deadly  sweep  of  the  cholera.  In  all  these  places  the 
local  and  removable  conditions  of  general  insalubrity  were  abundant. 

(2.)  In  the  cholera  epidemic  of  1849  it  commenced  its  ravages  at  a  grand  centre  of 
corruption  and  gross  insalubrity  in  Baxter  Street.  Dr.  Wm.  P.  Buell,  the  physician  of  the 
first  established  Cholera  Hospital,  thus  describes  the  locality  and  the  first  victims  of  the 
disease.  "  No.  20  Orange  Street"  (now  Baxter)  "  lies  thirty  or  forty  yards  in  a  southeast- 
erly direction  from  the  '  Five  Points.'  The  entrance  to  the  rear  lot  is  gained  by  an  open- 
ing scarcely  two  feet  wide,  or  more  than  six  feet  in  height,  pierced  through  the  front 
house.  Passing  through  this  a  distance  of  forty  feet,  you  reach  the  rear  lot,  on  which  are 
two  old  and  ruinous  tenements  :  one  a  prolongation  backwards  of  the  front  house,  and  the 
other  standing  across  it  at  right  angles ;  the  adjoining  house,  an  extension  backwards  in 
the  same  manner,  thus  cutting  off  almost  completely  the  admission  of  fresh  air.  The 
small  area  that  is  unbuilt  upon  is  covered  with  black  pools  of  filthy  water.  The  apart- 
ment where  the  first  case  occurred  is  a  basement  or  cellar  in  one  of  these  buildings."  *  *  * 
"  At  my  first  visit,  on  the  16th  of  May,  five  human  beings,  one  man  and  four  women,  lay 


lxiv 


REPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


One  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  ascertained  that  the  death-rate 
in  his  district  was  as  one  in  twenty-four  of  the  population.  A 
member  of  the  Council  accompanied  that  Inspector  through  sev- 
eral of  the  insalubrious  quarters  in  that  district,  and  found  that  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  resident  population  were  sick,  the  per- 
centage of  persons  sick  ranging  from  ten  to  thirty  per  cent,  of  all 
the  living.  At  that  time  the  Inspector  was  able  to  point  out,  upon 
an  area  of  about  one-fourth  of  a  square  mile,  no  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  tenant-houses  in  which  fever  and  small-pox  was 
at  the  time  prevailing  or  had  recently  prevailed,  and  where  at  the 
same  time  there  existed  all  the  evils  just  alluded  to  as  the  chief 

upon  the  floor  in  different  stages  of  cholera.  There  was  nothing  under  them  but  mud  and 
filth,  and  nothing  over  them  but  a  few  rags  of  the  filthiest  description.  Civilization  and 
a  great  city  could  scarcely  afford  a  parallel  to  the  scene."  *  *  *  "On  the  morning 
of  the  20th  of  May  two  women  were  brought  to  the  hospital  from  the  '  Old  Brewery.' " 

For  14  days  the  disease  was  confined  to  this  filthy  locality.  Nest  the  disease  ap- 
peared in  a  low  and  filthy  quarter  in  Stanton  Street  and  the  Eleventh  Ward.  Then  in  the 
region  west  of  the  City  Hospital,  where  typhus  and  small-pox  have  swept  so  fatally  the 
past  twelve  months.  The  epidemic  had  thus  gained  headway  and  become  fully  estab- 
lished :  its  march  was  rapid  and  deadly. 

As  to  localizing  causes,  there  was  but  one  opinion  to  be  expressed.  The  epidemic 
sought  out  and  lingered  longest  and  most  fatally  in  the  very  regions  where  typhus,  small- 
pox, scarlatina,  and  other  preventable  diseases  then  prevailed,  and  do  now  most  prevail. 

(3.)  In  Philadelphia  the  cholera  broke  out  and  made  some  progress  in  the  districts  of 
Moyamensing  and  Southwark,  where  the  work  of  cleansing  was  incomplete.  But  the  citi- 
zens had  anticipated  the  coming  pestilence  by  the  most  comprehensive  and  energetic  ef- 
fort to  effectually  purge  their  city  of  all  nuisances  and  all  the  known  causes  that  produce 
or  localize  disease.  2,970  privies  were  cleansed  ;  340  houses  were  cleaned  by  authority  ; 
188  ponds  were  drained ;  66  rag  and  bone  shops  were  closed,  etc.,  etc. ;  and  in  all  the 
city  removed  upwards  of  6,000  separate  sources  of  nuisance  and  disease.  Cholera  sent 
but  747  persons  to  their  graves  in  Philadelphia,  while  in  the  city  of  New  York  it  claimed 
5,071  dead ! 

(4.)  In  the  city  of  Boston  the  epidemic  began  in  Hamilton  Street,  where  21  cases 
occurred,  and  spread  through  such  places  as  Ann,  Cove,  Hanover,  and  Sea  Streets.  The 
officer  of  Internal  Health  of  that  city  reported  that  the  epidemic  "  domiciled  itself,  so  to 
speak,  in  localities  which  have  in  common  certain  well-defined  peculiarities."  Crowding 
and  local  impurity  were  the  chief  peculiarities  of  those  places.  In  the  same  localities — 
particularly  in  Hanover  Street — typhus  fever  had  previously  been  very  prevalent. 

(C.)  In  (he  city  of  New  York  the  Common  Council,  acting  as  the  Board  of  Health,  ap- 
pointed a  Sanitary  Committee,  consisting  of  nine  members  of  that  Board,  and  by  herculean 
efforts  the  city  was  finally  cleansed  and  the  pcstilenco  stayed.  In  the  final  report  of  that  , 
Committee,  ofter  declaring  that  "  wc  have  no  Sanitary  Police  worthy  of  the  name,"  it  is 
stated  that  "  cholera  may  agaiu  assail  us  before  wc  know  it ;  and  it  is  the  dictate  of  true 
policy  to  be  prepared  in  season  to  meet  it,  and  not  cholera  alone,  but  any  and  every  other 
malady  which  mav  be  produced  or  aggravated  by  local  causes." 


LOCALIZING  CAUSES  OF  PREVAILING  DISEASES.  Ixv 

localizing  causes  of  disease.  Over  the  same  ground,  in  the  warm 
season,  swept  cholera  infantum,  and  during  other  periods  of  the 
year  scarlatina,  measles,  and  almost  every  kind  of  domestic  pesti- 
lence prevailed  in  the  same  domiciles.  Rheumatism,  catarrh, 
consumption,  and  diseases  of  the  eyes,  the  shin,  and  the  bowels, 
are  likewise  always  and  most  obstinately  prevalent  in  the  same 
localities  and  the  same  families. 

The  Inspector  of  the  Fourth  Sanitary  District  reports  that  in  a 
certain  tenant-house  he  found  that  in  a  population  of  501  persons, 
in  71  families,  there  had  occurred  20  cases  of  small-pox  during  the 
year,  and  that  there  had  been  six  deaths  from  that  disease  ;  scarla- 
tina had  carried  16  of  its  young  victims  to  the  grave,  and  typhus 
had  claimed  a  full  share  of  adult  lives.  Upon  the  day  of  inspec- 
tion there  were  found  8  persons  sick  with  the  last-named  fever,  4 
of  small-pox,  7  of  scarlatina,  4  of  measles,  27  of  marasmus,  12  of 
consumption,  8  of  obstinate  diarrhoea ;  and  the  total  number  of 
persons  seriously  ill  in  that  closely-packed  tenant-house  was,  at 
that  time,  116,  or  about  29  per  cent,  of  its  population ! 

The  local  causes  of  insalubrity  in  and  about  the  premises  here 
described,  are  precisely  those  described  at  the  commencement  of 
this  section.  Filthiness,  overcrowding,  and  a  want  of  fresh  air  and 
sunlight,  have  served  to  localize  and  aggravate  the  diseases  that 
have  prevailed  there  ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  summer  in  the  year 
1851,  when  the  cholera  reached  our  shores,  it  made  its  appearance 
first  in  the  very  place  that  is  here  described.  And  it  is  worthy  of 
remark  in  this  place,  that  its  prevalence  upon  those  premises  was 
promptly  arrested  by  means  of  thorough  cleansing  and  a  thinning 
out  of  the  population.  At  the  time  of  last  inspection,  each  inhab- 
itant had  a  pro-rata  allowance  of  about  fifteen  superficial  feet  of 
area  upon  the  ground,  and  but  275  cubic  feet  of  air-space.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1865,  the  degree  of  overcrowding  of  that 
building  was  even  greater  by  ten  per  cent,  than  the  rate  here  re- 
corded. The  various  causes  of  insalubrity  that  pertain  to,  or  are 
accumulated  about  the  tenant-houses  here  reported,  are  recognized 
by  every  intelligent  physician  as  the  agencies  which  not  only  origi- 
nally produce  many  of  the  diseases  that  prevail  there,  but  which 
also  fix  and  insure  the  prevalence  of  every  kind  of  fever  and  con- 
tagion that  chances  to  be  introduced  from  abroad.  This  sufficient- 
ly illustrates  the  meaning  of  the  term  "  localizing  causes  of  disease." 
5 


Ixvi  EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 

By  turning  to  the  District  Reports  in  the  Second  Paet  of  this 
volume,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  have  given 
peculiar  and  merited  prominence  to  the  local  and  removable  evils 
that  produce  or  determine  the  prevalence  of  disease.  Says  the 
Inspector  of  the  Tenth  District :  "  The  high  rate  of  sickness  and 
mortality  among  the  people  of  this  district  is  undoubtedly  attribut- 
able to  two  general  causes,  viz. :  1st.  Their  insalubrious  surround- 
ings, such  as  filthy  streets,  deficient  sewerage,  neglected  privies, 
and  ill-ventilated  dwellings;  and,  2d.  The  ignorant  and  careless 
habits  of  the  people  themselves."  The  Inspector  of  the  Eleventh 
District  reports  a  series  of  facts  relating  to  the  prevalence  of  dys- 
entery, diarrhoea,  and  typhoid  fever,  which  owed  their  origin  and 
virulence  to  an  uncovered  and  neglected  sewer.  The  Inspector  of  the 
Thirteenth  District  reports  in  detail  upon  a  great  number  of  fever- 
nests,  and  insalubrious  quarters,  in  and  around  all  of  which  he 
found  that  the  localizing  agencies  of  disease  were  definite  and 
destructively  abundant.  In  the  Eighteenth  District,  where  fever 
and  diarrhoea  have  been  rife,  the  Inspector  found,  within  a  few 
hundred  feet  of  wealthy  and  well-kept  mansions,  there  were  accu- 
mulated all  the  filthy  and  nameless  evils  that  make  a  fever-nest, 
and  in  the  midst  of  which  typhus  and  domestic  pestilence  hold  sway. 
Says  the  Inspector  of  the  Twentieth  District :  "  A  very  large  ma- 
jority of  cases  of  cholera  infantum  occurred  in  rear  tenements,  from 
which  are  excluded  the  genial  rays  of  sunshine,  and  where  the 
atmosphere  is  loaded  with  the  emanations  from  overflowing  privies, 
filthy  cellars,  and  undrained  cess-pools." 

The  Inspectors'  Reports,  like  their  daily  Records,  are  full  of 
direct  testimony  upon  this  subject;  and  as  the  reader  will  find 
condensed  statements  relating  thereto  in  the  Second  Paet  of  this 
volume,  it  is  not  necessary  to  quote  further  from  the  results  of  the 
sanitary  survey  of  the  city.  To  the  citizens  who  have  encouraged 
and  sustained  its  labors,  it  is  proper  that  this  Council  should  pre- 
sent not  only  the  general  conclusions  that  have  been  reached  in 
those  labors,  but  also  such  illustrations,  both  of  the  sanitary  evils 
that  now  jeopard  the  public  health,  and  of  the  agencies  by  which 
evils  may  be  removed,  as  will  most  effectually  aid  the  works  of  sani- 
tary improvement  which  are  immediately  required  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  Hence  it  has  been  deomed  expedient  by  the  Council 
to  add  to  the  Inspectors'  Reports  various  details  of  illustrations  by 


LOCALIZING  CAUSES  OF  PEEV AILING  DISEASES.  Ixvii 

means  of  diagrams,  etc.,  prepared  from  the  original  surveys  made 
by  an  architectural  and  topographical  draughtsman  who  has 
steadily  been  employed  as  an  essential  aid  to  the  Sanitary  Inspec- 
tion. It  has  been  the  constant  aim  of  the  Council  and  its  assistants  to 
investigate  the  causes  of  insalubrity  as  they  to-day  exist  in  the  city  ; 
and  if  in  this  Report,  and  in  the  body  of  evidence  from  the  Sani- 
tary Inspectors,  there  appears  to  be  a  great  degree  of  prominence 
given  to  the  localizing  causes  of  disease  and  excessive  mortality,  it 
is  a  prominence  that  is  fully  justified  by  existing  facts.  Indeed, 
the  actual  circumstances  and  local  conditions  that  now  prevail  as 
the  chief  causes  of  needless  disease  and  mortality  in  the  city  of 
New  York  surpass  belief,  and  can  in  nowise  be  fully  represented 
by  mere  description.  Such  overcrowding  and  filthiness  in  exten- 
sive districts  of  a  great  city,  such  negligence  of  civic  cleanliness 
and  the  localizing  causes  of  disease,  such  an  utter  disregard  of  all 
precautionary  inquiry  and  regulations  to  guard  against  the  increase 
and  diffusion  of  specific  sources  of  pestilential  maladies,  probably 
do  not  exist  elsewhere  in  the  civilized  world. 

The  Council  would  respectfully  recommend,  in  view  of  the 
great  importance  of  trustworthy  and  constant  information  and 
skilled  advice  respecting  the  local  sources  and  the  localizing  causes 
of  disease  throughout  the  different  sections  of  the  city,  that — 

First. — Physicians  and  all  other  classes  of  philanthropic  and 
intelligent  citizens  should  unite  in  the  duty  of  maintaining  a 
systematic  effort  to  procure  such  stated  and  special  inspections 
and  reports  of  insalubrious  quarters  in  the  several  districts  of 
the  city,  as  will  furnish  that  definite  and  constantly  revised 
knowledge  of  prevailing  sickness  and  mortality,  and  the  local- 
izing conditions  of  disease,  which  will  best  enable  the  people 
to  devise  and  apply  means  for  the  protection  of  the  public 
health. 

Second. — That  all  proper  efforts  be  put  forth  to  procure  the  estab- 
lishment, and  the  successful  operation,  of  an  enlightened  and 
efficient  system  of  Sanitary  Government  and  Advice. 

Thlbd. — Tliat  until  such  a  system  of  Government  and  Advice 
shall  have  been  established,  as  well  as  ever  thereafter,  physicians 
and  all  classes  of  the  people  in  this  city  should  use  all  practica- 
ble means  and  influences  to  induce  the  owners  and  lessees  of 


lxviii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


tenantrhouses  and  other  property  to  remove  and  prevent  the 
local  causes  of  insalubrity  pertaining  thereto. 

THE  TENANT-HOUSES  OF  NEW  YORK. 

The  sanitary  wants  and  the  social  evils  of  this  city  have  he- 
come  fearfully  centralized  in  the  densely-crowded  tenant-house 
districts.  The  most  zealous  philanthropy  and  the  incessant  efforts 
of  religious  teachers  are  striving  to  interpose  such  moral  and  social 
influences  as  shall  mitigate  the  evils  which  for  some  time  past  have 
been  rapidly  augmenting  in  connection  with  the  tenant-house  sys- 
tem. The  moral  and  the  political  dangers  which  stand  connected 
with  this  subject  are  beginning  to  be  appreciated  by  reflecting 
minds,  but  the  actual  extent  and  importance  of  the  sanitary  wants 
and  physical  evils  of  the  tenant-house  population  as  a  class  are  by 
no  means  adequately  regarded  by  the  more  favored  classes  of  the 
community ;  while,  with  but  few  exceptions,  it  is  lamentably 
true  that  the  suffering  classes — the  tenant  population  themselves — 
from  the  very  circumstances  that  surround  them,  remain  compara- 
tively unconscious  of  their  own  peril  and  disability,  both  as  re- 
spects physical  conditions  and  moral  influences. 

The  officers  and  physicians  of  our  medical  charities  have  had 
constant  occasion  to  note  the  peculiar  sanitary  wants  and  the  preva- 
lent diseases  of  the  tenant-house  class.  The  public  dispensaries  of 
New  York  annually  provide  medical  care  for  about  150,000  per- 
sons, nearly  all — probably  more  than  nine  tenths — of  whom  are 
inhabitants  of  tenant-houses ;  the  various  hospitals  receive  nearly 
all  of  their  patients  from  the  same  class  ;  while  the  almshouse  and 
the  penitentiary  scarcely  recognize  any  other  persons  than  those 
long  familiar  with  tenant-house  life.  We  thus  Bpeak  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  tenant-houses  as  constituting  a  class,  and  as  being  allied 
with  the  causes  of  sickness,  pauperism,  and  crime.  Circumstances 
incident  to  the  growth  and  commerce  of  the  city  have  nearly  blotted 
out  the  private  residences  of  the  middle  classes  in  the  community, 
and  with  the  loss  of  that  clas3  of  domestic  homes,  the  people  that 
have  been  driven  from  them  to  the  common  tenant-house  have  be- 
come assimilated  to  the  poorer  class  from  which  the  almshouse, 
the  hospital,  and  the  public  dispensaries  are  filled. 

The  tenant-houses  of  this  city  are  unlike  the  habitations  occu- 


TENANT-HOUSES  OF  NEW  YORK.  Ixix 

pied  by  the  poorer  classes  in  any  other  city,  and  principally  in  the 
following  respects,  viz. :  1.  That  the  occupants  have  less  personal 
interest  in  and  control  over  the  character,  cleanliness,  and  sur- 
roundings of  their  domiciles  than  is  usual  in  other  cities.  2.  That 
the  rate  of  crowding,  both  as  regards  the  allowance  of  superficial 
area  and  of  air-space  to  each  person,  far  exceeds  the  ordinary  degrees 
of  aggregation  of  the  poorer  classes  in  other  cities.  3.  There  is  less 
concern  and  expenditure  for  the  welfare  of  the  tenants,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  higher  rate  of  rental  for  domiciles,  than  prevails  in 
other  cities.  4.  There  is  relatively  as  well  as  numerically  a  vastly 
larger  population  dwelling  in  crowded  tenant-houses  in  New  York 
than  in  any  other  great  city. 

Not  only  has  the  total  population  of  New  York  been  doubled 
during  the  last  twenty  years,  but  that  large  portion — always  a  ma- 
jority of  the  whole — that  comprises  the  laboring  and  poor  classes, 
has  become  more  and  more  concentrated  upon  given  areas  and  in 
particular  streets  and  districts,  until  a  degree  of  crowding  has  been 
attained  which  by  itself  has  become  a  subject  of  sanitary  inquiry 
and  public  concern. 

At  the  time  the  Council  completed  its  Sanitary  Survey  of  the 
city,  December,  1864,  there  were  495,592  persons  in  this  city  resid- 
ing in  tenant-houses  and  cellars  ;  the  total  number  of  tenant-houses 
was  15,309,  and  the  average  number  of  families  to  each  of  these 
houses  was  7£,  including  the  poor  families  that  take  boarders,  keep 
lodgers,  etc.  To  these  aggregate  numbers  the  Sanitary  Inspec- 
tors report  that  another  element  should  be  added,  viz.,  all  of  the 
smaller  habitations,  attics,  stable-lofts,  etc.,  where  poor  families  are 
found  stowed  away,  and  having  too  small  an  allowance  of  area  and 
air-space.  The  Inspector  of  the  Fourth  District  (4th  Ward), 
for  example,  reports  that  in  addition  to  the  462  tenant-houses  proper 
in  his  district,  there  are  252  other  buildings  that  possess  the 
attributes  of  tenant-houses,  and  in  a  great  proportion  of  which  the 
highest  degree  of  sanitary  want  prevails.  Were  all  this  class 
of  habitations  included  with  the  tenant-houses  and  underground 
residences  it  would  be  found  that  far  more  than  half  the  population 
of  the  city  is  to-day  inhabiting  a  class  of  domiciles  which  invite  and 
localize  the  most  disabling  and  fatal  kinds  of  disease. 

Cellar  and  garrets  were  once  distinguished  as  the  chosen  abodes 
of  poverty  and  disease ;  the  New  York  tenant-house  is  now  added 


Ixx 


EEPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


to  the  same  list.  But  there  have  heen  constructed  several  im- 
proved dwellings  of  this  class  in  which  the  provisions  for  domestic 
cleanliness  and  comfort,  the  supply  of  air  and  sunlight,  and  the 
prevailing  low  sickness  and  death-rates,  afford  sufficient  evidence 
that  a  fair  degree  of  domestic  health  and  comfort  may  he  secured 
even  in  a  very  dense  population.  That  the  rate  of  crowding  in 
particular  localities,  and  even  throughout  the  entire  region  occupied 
by  tenant-houses  is  too  great,  is  rendered  evident  by  a  simple  esti- 
mation of  the  facts  relating  to  the  subject.  If  we  take  into  con- 
sideration only  the  so-called  tenant-houses,  that  is,  houses  in  which 
there  dwell  three  or  more  families  who  hire  their  domiciles  by  a 
monthly  rental,  it  will  be  found  that  these  houses,  being  15,309  in 
number,  have  been  built  upon  about  850  acres  of  ground,  includ- 
ing all  the  courts,  alleys,  and  areas  pertaining  to  them,  exclusive 
of  the  paved  streets  in  front  of  them.  Including  a  proper  pro- 
rata of  the  entire  area  of  the  public  streets,  the  total  superfi- 
cial area  allotted  to  these  15,309  houses,  the  111,000  families, 
and  the  480,368  persons  that  dwell  in  them,  is  about  two  square 
miles.  That  is,  the  tenant-house  population  is  actually  packed 
upon  the  house-lots  and  streets  at  the  rate  of  240,000  to  the  square 
mile;  and  it  is  only  because  this  rate  of  packing  is  somewhat 
diminished  by  intervening  warehouses,  factories,  private  dwellings, 
and  other  classes  of  buildings,  that  the  entire  tenant-house  pop- 
ulation is  not  devastated  by  the  domestic  pestilences  and  infectious 
epidemics  that  arise  from  overcrowding  and  uncleanness.  As  now 
distributed,  the  tenant-houses  of  the  city  are  nearly  all  found 
within  an  area  of  less  than  four  square  miles.  Even  this  rate  of 
crowding,  including  the  other  classes  of  population,  and  other 
classes  of  buildings  that  are  interspersed,  is  so  great  as  to  have 
justly  become  a  subject  of  momentous  importance,  and  it  calls  for 
a  thorough  sanitary  inquiry  in  regard  to  existing  evils  and  im- 
pending dangers. 

Such  concentration  and  packing  of  a  population  has  probably 
never  been  equalled  in  any  city  as  may  be  found  in  particular  lo- 
calities in  New  York.  In  some  entire  districts,  as  in  the  Fourth, 
Sixth,  and  portions  of  the  Eleventh  and  the  Seventeenth  Wards, 
the  density  of  the  population  is  far  greater  than  in  any  parish  or 
ward  in  London  or  any  other  European  city  of  winch  we  have  deii- 
nite  knowledge.    For  example,  in  the  Fourth  Ward,  the  tenant- 


TENANT-HODS  ES  OF  NEW  YOKE. 


Ixxi 


house  and  cellar  population,  as  distributed  throughout  the  whole 
Ward,  is  all  included  within  an  area  of  about  sixty  acres,  including 
streets,  etc.  This  gives  a  population  of  about  192,000  persons  to 
the  square  mile.  And  to  this  number  there  remains  to  be  added 
that  portion  of  the  population  which  is  not  included  in  the  tenant- 
house  class.  At  the  same  time  there  are  twelve  acres  of  the  same 
area  occupied  by  storehouses  and  factories.  The  results  of  our 
Sanitary  Survey  in  the  Fourth  Ward  show  that  the  tenant-houses 
and  tenant-house  population  proper,  i.  e.  the  class  that  averages 
upwards  of  seven  families  to  the  house,  are  crowded  upon  a  space 
of  less  than  thirty  acres  exclusive  of  streets,  or  less  than  forty  acres 
including  street  areas ;  and  that  this  class,  which,  in  that  ward, 
out-numbers  17,611  persons,  is  now  packed  at  the  rate  of  about 
290,000  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile.  In  that  ward  nothing  is 
plainer  than  the  fact  that  the  overcrowding  of  the  population  is 
perilous  to  public  health. 

In  the  Sixth  Ward  the  total  population  dwelling  in  tenant- 
houses  and  cellars  amounts  to  22,897,  distributed  over  an  area 
scarcely  exceeding  seventy-five  acres.  While  in  the  Eleventh 
Ward  there  are  65,620  persons  living  in  tenant-houses  and  cellars, 
and  the  rate  of  crowding  is  increasing  throughout  that  ward  with 
great  rapidity;  and  in  the  Seventeenth  Ward  there  is  an  aggregate 
tenant-house  and  cellar  population  of  66,207  distributed  over  one 
of  the  most  important  districts  of  the  city. 

These  facts  are  introduced  simply  to  show  the  growth  and  ne- 
cessities of  the  poor  and  middle  class  population  in  Isew  York,  and 
also  to  illustrate  the  principle  and  the  consequences  of  the  remai'k- 
able  concentration  of  these  classes.  If  we  compare  these  state- 
ments with  the  results  of  inquiry  upon  the  same  questions  in  the 
largest  cities  and  most  densely-populated  districts  in  England,  the 
rate  of  overcrowding  in  New  York  will  become  more  apparent  by 
the  contrast.  At  the  period  when  the  great  sanitary  reform  was 
begun  in  Liverpool,  it  was  ascertained  that  in  a  particularly  over- 
crowded and  very  unhealthy  parish  in  that  city,  the  packing  of  the 
population  was  at  the  rate  of  138,224  persons  to  the  square  mile ; 
at  the  same  period  there  was  a  portion  of  the  town  of  Manchester 
that  was  populated  at  the  rate  of  100,000  to  the  square  mile  ;  and 
all  London  'metropolis'  had  50,000  to  the  square  mile.    In  a  recent 


lxxii 


KEPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


report  of  a  royal  commission  the  following  statistics  are  given  re- 
specting the  most  densely-populated  districts  of  London : 

Districts.  Eatc  of  population  to  the  square  mile, 

St.  James,   144,008 

Holborn,   148,705 

St.  Luke,   151,104 

East  London,        .....  175,810 

From  the  facts  given  in  the  preceding  pages,  and  from  state- 
ments embodied  in  the  Second  Part  of  this  Report,  as  well  as  from 
the  ordinary  observations  of  reflecting  citizens,  the  truth  must  be 
obvious  that  the  poorer  classes  of  the  population  in  this  city  are 
becoming  excessively  aggregated,  and  that  their  narrow  domiciles 
are  becoming  perilously  overcrowded.  To  the  practical  considera- 
tion and  treatment  of  this  source  of  evil,  therefore,  citizens  and  all 
philanthropic  persons  must  very  soon  give  special  attention.  The 
sanitary  necessities  and  the  peculiar  perils,  both  public  and  domes- 
tic, that  stand  related  to  this  subject,  cannot  longer  be  neglected 
without  seriously  jeoparding  the  health  and  welfare  of  the  city 
and  working  much  evil  to  the  State.  How  most  successfully  to 
mitigate  the  tenant-house  evils  and  the  perils  of  overcrowding,  as 
they  now  exist,  is  truly  a  momentous  question,  and  it  is  a  still 
greater  problem  how  best  to  provide  suitable  domiciles  for  the  rap- 
idly-increasing population  of  the  city.  That  the  poorer  classes  in 
the  city  must,  to  a  very  great  extent,  now  and  hereafter,  reside  in 
multiple  domiciles  or  tenant-houses,  is  only  too  evident  and  certain. 
But  it  would  be  remarkably  anomalous,  in  this  age  of  progress  in 
the  practical  applications  of  science  and  art,  and  of  enterprise  and 
success  in  overcoming  the  obstacles  to  human  welfare,  if  no  reme- 
dies were  found  adequate  to  remedy  the  evils  we  now  both  witness 
and  justly  anticipate.  The  principles  of  science  and  the  labors  of 
art  upon  which  the  hygienic  protection  of  cities  depends,  are  un- 
questionably adequate  to  meet  any  questions  or  necessities  of  a 
purely  physical  nature  that  are  now  pending  or  that  may  hereafter 
arise ;  and  though  Hygienic  Works  and  Sanitary  Regulations, 
adapted  to  our  vast  population  and  to  the  marvellous  rapidity  of 
the  city's  growth,  are  yet  unknown  and  unprovided  by  municipal 
authority,  this  Council  desires  to  avow  the  belief  that,  by  the  timely 
action  of  the  intelligent  classes  of  the  people,  this  city  may  not  only 


TENANT-HOUSES  IN  NEW  YORK. 


lxxiii 


be  rendered  one  of  the  most  salubrious  of  great  cities  in  the  world, 
but  that  it  may  and  should  be  for  ever  kept  in  such  a  superior  con- 
dition of  salubrity.  The  physiological,  the  chemical,  and  the  en- 
gineering and  mechanical  questions  which  stand  connected  with 
this  subject,  are  not  only  sufficiently  comprehended  and  well  set- 
tled to  meet  any  existing  necessities  of  our  civic  hygiene,  but  the 
rate  of  progress  in  their  practical  application  and  in  then- expansion 
keeps  pace  with  all  human  wants. 

It  is  true  that  the  rate  of  crowding  of  the  population  in  partic- 
ular districts  of  this  city  is  already  unparalleled  and  still  increas- 
ing ;  and  this  renders  the  necessity  of  a  comprehensive  and  effec- 
tive system  of  Sanitary  Government  the  more  urgent ;  but  there 
certainly  ought  to  be  no  insuperable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  pro- 
viding for  an  industrious  and  free  people  all  the  fresh  air,  sunlight, 
pure  water,  and  wholesome  food  that  human  beings  require ;  and  cer- 
tainly it  is  as  possible  as  it  is  necessary  for  the  proper  authorities 
to  enforce  cleanliness  and  the  observance  of  general  sanitary  regula- 
tions. These  are  the  essential  requirements  and  conditions  of 
domestic  hygiene  and  public  health. 

It  is  true  that  the  tenant-houses  of  New  York  are  rapidly  be- 
coming the  nests  of  fever  infection,  and  the  poisoned  abodes  of 
physical  decay.  It  is  true  that  in  the  tenant-house  districts  a 
worse  than  Spartan  fate  awaits  all  children,  and  that  cholera 
infantum,  convulsions,  scrofula,  and  marasmus  hover  with  ghoul- 
like fiendishness  about  the  dismal  and  crowded  tenant-homes  of 
the  great  mass  of  infantile  lives  in  the  city.  It  is  true  that  we 
find  the  great  body  of  the  former  middle  class  of  society  rapidly  be- 
coming absorbed  into  and  allied  with  the  poor  tenant-houses  class, 
and  experiencing  the  lamentable  evils  that  surround  such  homes 
as  theirs ;  it  is  true  that  the  tenant-houses  of  the  city  as  a  whole, 
as  well  as  of  particular  districts,  are  becoming  rapidly  and  perilous- 
ly aggregated  ;  and  it  is  likewise  true  that  moral,  social,  and  polit- 
ical evils  are  fearfully  augmenting  and  ominously  threatening  in 
our  city,  in  consequence  of  all  these  unfortunate  physical  condi- 
tions. But  is  it  not  reasonable  and  true  that  insomuch  as  the 
causes  of  all  these  evils  have  been  and  are  mainly  physical — or  at 
least  always  allied  with  material  agencies  which  are  under  human 
control — in  the  same  degree,  and  conversely  and  by  redeeming  con- 
ditions mainly  of  a  physical  nature,  the  evils  we  now  deprecate, 


lxxiv 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


and  the  impending  perils  we  now  fear,  may  be  and  should  speedily 
be  averted  and  effectually  prevented  ? 

As  the  whole  subject  of  the  sanitary  wants  of  the  laboring 
classes  of  this  great  city  must  ere  long  become,  if  it  is  not  already, 
the  most  vitally  important  of  all  the  great  social  questions  and 
moral  necessities  that  demand  the  attention  of  municipal  and  State 
authorities,  and  the  efforts  of  philanthropists  and  social  economists, 
it  has  seemed  proper  thus  broadly  to  state  the  views  which  are 
entertained  upon  the  tenant-house  question  by  the  Council  of 
Hygiene.  It  is  the  wish  of  the  Council  to  enunciate  plainly  and 
emphatically  its  views  of  public  duty,  as  well  as  those  of  public 
necessity  in  reference  to  the  urgent  demand  for  well-considered, 
comprehensive,  and  prompt  efforts  to  remove  as  completely  as  pos- 
sible the  physical  evils  that  are  now  endangering  domestic  and 
public  health  in  and  near  the  tenant-house  districts ;  and  at  the 
same  time  to  aid  in  putting  into  speedy  operation  such  plans  as  will 
most  certainly  provide  comfortable  and  cleanly  homes,  that  shall 
be  socially  and  physioally  safe,  for  that  rapidly-increasing  portion 
of  the  inhabitants  which  at  the  present  time  crowd  the  tenant-houses 
and  cellars  of  the  crowded  districts  of  this  city. 

The  origin  and  growth  of  the  evils  that  now  characterize 
the  ordinary  tenant-houses  of  this  city  have  resulted  from  simple 
conditions  that  ought  to  have  been  anticipated  and  provided  for, 
and  which  may  still  be  met.  The  report  that  was  made  upon  the 
condition  of  these  houses  by  a  special  committee  of  the  Legislature, 
in  the  year  1857,  faithfully  describes  the  growth  of  the  tenant-house 
system.    That  committee  reported  upon  this  point  as  follows: 

"The  tenant-house  is  the  offspring  of  municipal  neglect,  as 
well  as  of  its  primary  causes,  over-population  and  destitution.  As 
a  city  grows  in  commerce,  and  demands  new  localities  for  traffic 
and  manufacture,  the  store  and  workshop  encroach  upon  the  dwell- 
ing house,  and  dispossess  its  occupants.  *********** 
As  our  wharves  became  crowded  with  warehouses,  and  encom- 
passed by  bustle  and  noise,  the  wealthier  citizens,  who  peopled  old 
'Knickerbocker'  mansions  near  the  bay,  transferred  their  resi- 
dence to  regions  beyond  the  din,  compensating  for  remoteness  from 
their  counting-houses  by  advantages  of  increased  quiet  and  luxury. 
Their  habitations  then  passed  into  the  hands,  on  the  ono  side,  of 
boarding-housekeepers;  on  the  other,  of  real  estate  agents;  and 


TENANT-HOUSES  TN  NEW  YOKE. 


Ixxv 


here,  ia  its  beginning,  the  tenant-house  became  a  real  blessing  to 
that  class  of  industrious  poor  whose  small  earnings  limited  their 
expenses,  and  whose  employment  in  workshops,  stores,  or  about 
the  wharves  and  thoroughfares,  rendered  a  near  residence  of  much 
importance.  At  this  period  rents  were  moderate,  and  a  mechanic 
with  family  could  hire  two  or  more  comfortable,  and  even  com- 
modious apartments,  in  a  house  once  occupied  by  wealthy  people, 
for  less  than  half  what  he  is  now  obliged  to  pay  for  narrow  and  un- 
healthy quarters.  This  state  of  tenantry  comforts,  however,  did 
not  continue  long ;  for  the  rapid  march  of  improvement  speedily 
enhanced  the  value  of  property  in  the  lower  wards  of  the  city,  and 
as  this  took  place,  rents  rose,  and  accommodations  decreased  in  the 
same  proportion.  *  *  *  *  The  spacious  dwelling-houses  then  fell 
before  improvements,  or  languished  for  a  season,  as  tenaut-houses 
of  the  type  which  is  now  the  prevailing  evil  of  our  city  ;  that  is  to 
say,  their  large  rooms  were  partitioned  into  several  smaller  ones, 
without  regard  to  proper  light  or  ventilation,  the  rate  of  rent  being 
lower  in  proportion  to  space,  or  height  from  the  street ;  and  they 
soon  became  filled,  from  cellar  to  garret,  with  a  class  of  tenantry 
living  from  hand  to  mouth,  loose  in  morals,  improvident  in  habits, 
degraded  or  squalid  as  beggary  itself.  This,  in  its  primary  aspects, 
was  the  tenant-house  system,  which  has  repeated  itself  in  every 
phase,  as  it  followed  the  track  of  population  from  ward  to  ward, 
until  it  now  becomes  a  distinguishing  feature  of  our  social  state, 
the  parent  of  constant  disorders,  and  the  nursery  of  increasing  vices. 

"  It  was  soon  perceived  by  astute  owners  and  agents  of  property, 
that  a  greater  percentage  of  profits  would  be  realized  by  the  con- 
version of  houses  and  blocks  into  barracks,  and  dividing  their  space 
into  the  smallest  proportions  capable  of  containing  human  life 
within  four  walls.  *  *  *  *  *  *  Blocks  were  rented  of  real  estate 
owners,  or  '  purchased  on  time,'  or  taken  in  charge  at  a  percentage, 
and  held  for  underletting."  * 

Such  has  been  the  progress  of  the  tenant-house  system.  Its 
evils  and  the  perils  that  surround  it  are  the  necessary  results  of  a 
forgetfulness  of  the  poor,  and  of  an  absence  of  sanitary  regulations 
and  advice.  That  the  evils  and  abuses  of  the  system  continue 
undiminished,  is  seen  on  every  hand.    Not  only  does  filth,  over- 

*  Report  of  select  committee  to  examine  the  condition  of  tenant-houses  in  New  York. 
Made  to  the  Legislature,  March,  1857. 


Ixxvi 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


crowding,  lack  of  privacy  and  domesticity,  lack  of  ventilation  and 
lighting,  and  absence  of  supervision  and  of  sanitary  regulation, 
still  characterize  the  greater  number  of  them :  but  they  are  built 
to  a  greater  height  in  stories,  there  are  more  rear  tenant-houses 
erected  back  to  back  with  other  buildings,  correspondingly  situated 
on  parallel  streets;  the  courts  and  alleys  are  more  greedily  en- 
croached upon  and  narrowed  into  un ventilated,  unlighted,  damp, 
and  well-like  holes  between  the  many-storied  front  and  rear  tene- 
ments ;  and  more  fever-breeding  wynds  and  culs-de-sac  are  created 
as  the  demand  for  the  humble  homes  of  the  laboring  poor  in- 
creases.* 

*  The  engraving  upon  the  opposite  page  gives  a  view  of  a  cul-de-sac  formed  by  recent- 
ly-constructed front  and  rear  tenantrhouses  on  Park  Street,  near  the  City  Hall.  The  en- 
graving is  copied  from  a  photographic  view  that  was  taken  in  the  brightest  sunlight  that 
locality  ever  enjoys. 

The  following  statistics  of  two  houses,  front  and  rear,  pertaining  to  these  premises 
were  reported  to  the  Council  of  Hygiene  in  the  month  of  January,  1865,  in  the  form  pre- 
scribed for  "  Special  Reports  upon  the  Sickness,  Mortality,  and  Physical  Conditions  in 
Crowded  Tenant-Houses." 


Street  and  No.  of  the  House. 

Nos.  37  and  39  Park  Street. 

Character  and  surroundings 
of  the  House. 

These  tenant-houses  are  6  stories  in  height,  with  a  basement. 
An  immense  junk  store  and  a  7  story  tenant-house  on  the 
south  side,  extend  the  entire  depth  of  lots,  and  thereby 
entirely  shut  off  ventilation  and  lighting  from  that  direc- 
tion.   There  arc  stables  at  the  back  of  the  rear  houses. 

No.  of  Families  in  the  House. 

05. 

No.  of  Persons  in  the  House. 

307.  [With  an  allowance  of  300  cubic  feet  of  air-space.] 

No.  of  Children  in  the  Ilouse, 
under  10  years  of  age. 

42. 

No.  of  Children  that  have 
died  during  last  6  months. 

6. 

Total  No.  of  Deaths  at  all 
ages  during  last  yoar. 

14. 

Total  No.  of  persona  now 
Sick  and  Diseased. 

77. 

The  Katlo  and  total  Sickness 
In  total  population. 

1  in  4  constantly  sick. 

The  Ratio  total  Mortality  In 
population  for  the  year. 

1  in  22. 

Remarks. 

Small-pox  and  typhus  have  existed  for  some  time  in  these 
domiciles. 

The  statistics  of  the  next  tenant-houses,  southward  in  the  same  block,  a  vast  junk 
store  intervening  as  just  mentioned,  are  given  as  follows  by  Mr.  S.  B.  Halliday,  the  faith- 
ful missionary  to  tho  city  poor,  and  present  Superintendent  of  the  Five-Points  Houso  of 
Industry : 

•    i    •    "The  i0t  on  which  this  building  stands  is  48  feet  2  inches  wide,  by  91  feet 


A  TENANT  HOUSE  CUL-DE-SAC. 
[Photographed  l>y  Anthony  from  n  House-top  in  Pearl  Street.] 


TENANT-HOUSES  OF  NEW  YOKE. 


Ixxvii 


The  instances  quoted  below  are  not  exaggerated  examples  of  the 
tenant-houses  of  the  city  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  are  truthful  illus- 

6  inches  in  depth.  There  is  both  a  front  and  rear  building.  The  front  building,  includ- 
ing the  basement,  is  eight  floors  or  stoiies.  The  basement  is  crowded  with  families,  and 
there  are  two  groggeries  in  the  front  portion?  of  the  next  floor,  families  living  back  of  the 
shops ;  so  that  families  are  piled  up  in  this  establishment  one  above  the  other,  eight  tiers 
high.  In  the  front  building  I  found  50  families,  with  two  tenements  or  sets  of  apartments 
unoccupied.  In  these  families  were  52  men,  57  women,  30  boys,  and  46  girls.  The  num- 
ber of  children  which  have  died  in  these  families  is  38.  The  number  of  still-births,  11. 
The  whole  number  of  living  children,  76  ;  whole  number  deceased,  49  ;  nearly  two-thirds 
as  many  having  died  as  have  survived.  In  13  of  these  families  no  children  had  been 
born,  and  in  23  families  with  children  no  deaths  had  occurred,  so  that  49  children  have 
died  in  the  remaining  14  families,  an  average  of  almost  four  deaths  to  each  family.  I 
give  the  ages  of  the  deceased  children : 


of  11 

"  9 
"  6 
ii  4 

"  3 
"  2 


years 


of  17  months 
"  U  a 
a  13  u 
ii  12  ii 
"  10  " 


of  5  months 

((   q  tt 

0 

ii  2  » 
ii  j  (t 

"  3  days 

"  1  " 


11  still-born. 


18  months 

"  The  families  in  this  building,  with  few  exceptions,  are  from  Ireland,  and  with  as  few 
exceptions,  are  Catholics.  They  are  as  a  class  possessed  of  more  intelligence  than  the 
generality  of  the  Irish  people,  the  great  majority  being  able  to  both  read  and  write.  The 
ages  are  as  follows : 


25 

of 

i 

year 

2 

of  19 

years 

1 

of  33 

years 

12 

(t 

2 

(i 

4 

ii 

20 

a 

2 

34 

9 

tt 

3 

(t 

1 

il 

21 

tt 

3 

(C 

35 

k 

6 

it 

4 

t( 

4 

it 

22 

tt 

1 

it 

36 

tt 

5 

tt 

5 

u 

7 

ti 

23 

ii 

1 

tt 

37 

a 

1 

u 

6 

u 

6 

tt 

24 

ii 

8 

u 

40 

tt 

5 

7 

cc 

7 

tt 

25 

a 

1 

it 

41 

tt 

1 

<< 

8 

It 

7 

it 

26 

a 

6 

tt 

45 

tt 

2 

(C 

9 

It 

10 

it 

27 

ii 

1 

tt 

46 

a 

2 

(t 

10 

II 

9 

It 

28 

ii 

1 

tt 

49 

tt 

1 

a 

11 

II 

2 

tt 

29 

it 

1 

tt 

50 

tt 

3 

u 

It 

« 

17 

it 

30 

ii 

1 

tt 

55 

tt 

1 

tt 

16 

<i 

1 

tt 

31 

ti 

1 

tt 

60 

u 

1 

tt 

18 

II 

2 

tt 

32 

tt 

1 

it 

65 

a 

"In  the  rear  building  there  were  17  families.  In  these  17  families  there  were  16  men, 
22  women,  18  boys,  and  7  girls;  in  all,  63  persons.  16  of  these  families  are  Irish,  t»nd 
one  German.    The  ages  were  as  follows : 


of 


1  year 

2  " 

3  " 

4  " 

5  " 

6  " 

7  " 

8  " 

9  " 
10  " 

12  " 

13  " 


2  of  14  years 


15 
16 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
27 
30 
32 


1  of  34  years 


36 
38 
40 
41 
45 
48 
49 
50 
55 
60 
65 


lxxviii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


trations  of  the  predominant  evils  that  at  present  characterize  the 
tenant-house  system.  By  referring  to  the  evidence  given  by  the 
Sanitary  Inspectors,  in  the  Second  Part  of  the  report,  the  reader 
will  find  these  evils  have  in  many  instances  become  so  excessive 
as  to  be  the  causes  of  the  perpetual  prevalence  of  domestic  pesti- 
lence.** The  records  of  sickness  and  mortality  in  particular  tenant 

"In  two  of  these  families  no  children  had  been  born.  In  the  other  15  families  the 
children  that  had  died  exceed  the  number  living  nearly  one-third.  There  were  25  living; 
and,  including  one  still-birth,  there  had  been  37  deaths  of  children  in  the  15  families. 
The  ages  of  the  these  children  at  their  decease  was  as  follows : 


of  26  years 
it  24  » 
u  18  II 

"  12  " 
ii  ij  .< 

ii  10  « 


of 


5  years 

3  " 

2  " 
18  months 
16  " 
15  " 
14  " 
10  " 


of  9  months 

"  6 

"  5 

•«  4 

"  2 

"  1 

"  3  weeks 

"  7  days. 


"  The  average  age  of  these  children  at  death  was  a  fraction  over  three  and  one-third 
years.  Not  including  the  sis  oldest,  the  average  age  of  the  remainder  is  a  fraction  over 
one  year. 

"  It  is  a  shocking  fact,  that  more  children  by  one-third  should  have  died  than  have  sur- 
vived in  these  families  ;  yet  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  critical  examination  of  facts  in  regard 
to  the  deaths  in  the  families  of  the  five  blocks,  the  census  of  which  was  taken  by  me, 
would  have  shown  a  nearly  similar  result.  The  whole  number  of  persons  domiciled  on 
this  lot  was  248." — Monthly  Record  of  the  Five-Points  House  of  Industry. 

In  Mulberry  Street,  near  Chatham  Square,  is  a  "  model  tenant-house," — so  called,  but 
really  a  human  packing  house — which  in  a  recent  inspection  by  the  Council  of  Hygiene 
gave  the  following  statistics : 


Street  and  No.  of  the  House. 

5,  7,  and  9  Mulberry,  front  and  rear. 

Character  and  surroundings 
ol  t  he  House. 

The  old  Baptist  Church  transformed  into  a  Tenant-house. 

No.  of  Families  In  the  nousc. 

69. 

No.  of  PersonB  In  the  House. 

313.    [With  about  400  cubic  feet  air-spaco  to  each.] 

No.  of  Children  in  the  House, 
under  10  years  of  age. 

48. 

No.  of  Children  that  have 
died  during  tbo  Inst  year. 

7. 

Total  No.  of  Deaths  at  all 
ages  during  the  year. 

Total  No.  of  persons  now 
Sick  and  DUecuetl. 

15. 

78. 

Tho~Ratlo  of  total  Blcknoss 

In  total  population. 
The  Katlo  total  Mortality- in 

population  for  tbo  year. 

1  in  4,  constantly  sick. 

1  in  20} 

Be  mark  s. 

Typhus  and  small-pox  have  prevailed  in  this  house  for  sev. 
cral  months  past. 

*  Sec  pages  8,  9,  47-58,  77-79,  136,  177,  216-218,  and  238-240. 
porta  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors. 


Second  Part ;  Re- 


TENANT-HOUSES  EST  NEW  YOKE. 


lxxix 


houses  mentioned  in  preceding  pages,  sufficiently  illustrate  the  fact 
that  disease  and  death  bear  fearful  sway  among  the  inhabitants  of 
this  class  of  dwellings.  This  sad  fate  of  the  poorer  classes  in  our 
city  need  not  continue.  It  must  not  be  permitted  to  become  worse, 
nor  to  be  irrevocably  perpetuated.  It  now  admits  of  remedial  and 
preventive  treatment.  The  excessive  concentration  and  overcrowd- 
ing of  the  poor  and  dependent  classes  in  particular  districts,  and 
upon  very  limited  areas  of  the  city ;  the  utter  disregard  of  ventila- 
tion, and  of  the  most  essential  conditions  for  promoting  domestic 
comfort  and  health  in  the  plans  of  tenant-house  construction ;  and 
— what  perhaps  is  the  most  essential,  and  most  easily  remedied  of  the 
sanitary  wants  of  tenant-houses  and  their  occupants — the  absence 
of  cleanliness  and  sanitary  care  of  those  houses,  and  the  streets, 
courts,  and  alleys  about  them,  are  evils  that  urgently  demand 
public  attention.  These  evils  must  be  remedied,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  they  should  be  prevented  T>y  faithfully-executed  sanitary 
regulations. 

All  the  evils  connected  with  the  tenant-house  system  in  New 
York  have  been  steadily  increasing  for  several  years  past;  and 
although  the  system  itself,  as  it  exists  here,  is  peculiar  to  this  city, 
there  is  reason  for  believing  that  both  the  system  and  all  its  evils 
might  be  effectually  controlled  by  the  timely  and  well-directed 
efforts  of  the  intelligent  and  wealthy  classes  of  citizens.  It  is  not 
the  province  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene  to  comment  upon  the  faults 
and  the  criminal  selfishness  and  indifference  of  the  proprietors  and 
managers  of  the  great  mass  of  tenant-house  property  as  it  is  now 
held  and  managed  in  this  city.  Inquiries  have  revealed  the  fact 
that  hitherto  the  plans,  construction,  and  management  of  these 
houses  have  been  left  almost  exclusively  to  the  caprice  and  inordinate 
selfishness  of  men  whose  sole  object  has  been  to  make  small  invest- 
ments and  a  borrowed  capital  pay  enormous  advances,  without  re- 
gard to  the  poor  tenants'  welfare,  or  the  public  safety.  A  few 
worthy  citizens  and  wealthy  capitalists  have  given  excellent  exam- 
ples of  improved  construction  and  care  of  such  houses,  but  there 
is  wanted  a  comprehensive  appreciation  of  the  peculiar  necessities 
and  perils  of  the  city,  and  of  the  real  wants,  disabilities,  and  suffer- 
ings of  the  poorer  classes  of  the  population  in  consequence  of  the 
gross  defects,  overcrowding,  and  insalubrity  of  the  miserable  abodes 
of  these  classes.    The  limited  area  of  the  city,  the  unparalleled  in- 


Ixxx 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


crease  of  population,  particularly  of  the  foreign  immigrant  class, 
and  necessitous  conditions  that  induce  the  poor  to  accept  such 
fever-nests  and  dens  of  death  as  avaricious  and  unscrupulous  spec- 
ulators have  constructed  solely  for  purposes  of  rapid  gains,  have 
become  matters  of  public  concern.*  In  view  of  the  fearful  indif- 
ference to  some  of  the  prevalent  and  yet  most  preventable  evils 
that  characterize  the  plans  of  construction  and  interior  arrange- 
ment of  tenant-houses,  particularly  as  regards  the  gross  herding  of 
families,  the  obstruction  of  ventilation  and  natural  lighting,  the 
crowding  of  areas,  etc.,  the  Council  has  introduced  various  exam- 
ples from  accurate  surveys  that  have  been  made  under  its  own 
direction,  and  verified  by  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  of  the  districts 
in  which  such  examples  are  found.  The  engraved  diagrams  and 
views  of  some  of  these  examples  are  presented  in  this  Report,  as 
illustrations  of  the  evils  here  mentioned,  and  which,  in  the  Second 
Part  of  this  Report,  are  more  fully  described.  The  engraving  upon 

*  Says  a  writer  in  the  Evening  Post: — "  The  tenant-house  has  become  one  of  the 
institutions  of  this  city ;  to  build  and  own  these  barracks  is  a  profitable  speculation,  in 
which  men  of  honorable  lives  and  kind  hearts  embark  their  means,  and  do  not  think 
themselves  disgraced ;  yet  we  are  told  that  the  rents  demanded  are  so  enormous  that  from 
twenty  to  thirty-five  per  cent,  are  not  uncommon  returns  for  such  ventures.  Many  of  our 
readers  have  but  a  vague  notion  of  what  a  tenant-house  or  'barracks'  is.  It  is  com- 
monly a  structure  of  rough  brick,  standing  upon  a  lot  twenty-five  by  one  hundred  feet ; 
it  is  from  four  to  six  stories  high,  and  is  so  divided  internally  as  to  contain  four  families 
on  each  floor — each  family  eating,  drinking,  sleeping,  cooking,  washing,  and  fighting  in  a 
room  eight  feet  by  ten,  and  a  bed-room  six  feet  by  ten ;  unless,  indeed — which  very 
frequently  happens,  says  Mr.  Halliday — the  family  renting  these  two  rooms  takes  in 
another'  family  to  board,  or  sub-lets  one  room  to  one  or  even  two  other  families  I 

"Many  houses  used  for  this  purpose  of  'herding'  families  together,  were  built  for 
other  uses ;  more  recently,  however,  others  have  been  built  especially  for  this  use.  Ono 
of  the"  largest  of  these  '  barracks '  has  apartments  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  fami- 
lies !  It  stands  on  a  lot  fifty  by  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  is  entered  at  the  sides  from 
alleys  eight  feet  wide,  and,  by  reason  of  the  vicinity  of  another  barrack  of  equal  height, 
the  rooms  arc  so  darkened  that  on  a  cloudy  day  it  is  impossible  to  read  or  sew  in  them 
without  artificial  light.  It  has  not  one  room  which  can  in  any  way  be  thoroughly  ventila- 
ted. The  vaults  and  sewers  which  arc  to  carry  off  the  filth  of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  families  hare  grated  openings  in  the  alleys,  and  door-ways  in  the  cellars,  through 
which  the  noisome  and  deadly  miasmata  penetrate  and  poison  the  dank  air  of  the  house 
and  the  courts.  The  water  closets  for  the  whole  vast  establishment  are  a  range  of  stalls 
without  do6rs,  and. accessible  not  only  from  the  building,  but  even  from  the  street.  Com- 
fort is  here  out  of  the  question ;  common  decency  has  been  rendered  impossible ;  and  the 
horrible  brutalities  of  tho  passenger  ship  arc  day  after  day  repeated — but  on  a  larger 
scale."  Sec  engraving  from  a  photographic  view  of  the  court  and  barracks  here  described ; 
page  opposite. 


VIEW  OF  "  GOTIIAM  COUKT." 
[Engraved  from  a  Photograph  by  Anthony."] 


TENANT-UOUSES  OF  NEW  YORK. 


lxxxi 


the  opposite  page  presents  an  illustration  of  the  method  of  pack- 
ing the  greatest  possible  number  of  inhabitants  upon  the  smallest 
possible  space. 

The  evils  which  we  have  so  freely  illustrated,  are  so  various 
and  so  numerous  throughout  the  city,  that  each  of  the  Sanitary 
Inspectors,  excepting  only  the  Inspector  of  the  Harlem  district,  has 
reported  a  great  number  of  examples,  and  notwithstanding  the 
unusually  dry  and  healthful  seasons  of  the  past  year  (1864)  such 
examples  of  overcrowded,  badly  planned,  and  malconstructed 
tenant-houses  have  always  been  reported  upon  by  these  physicians 
as  having  a  direct  relation  to  certain  prevailing  diseases  and  an  ex- 
cessive death-rate.  It  is  to  be  remarked  also  that  all  the  evils  of 
tenant-house  crowding,  and  its  attendant  insalubrity,  are  rapidly 
encroaching  upon  the  up-town  districts,  and  that  they  are  being 
thrust  into  the  midst  of  streets  and  blocks  hitherto  occupied  by  pri- 
vate residences.  Moreover  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  dwellings 
of  the  middle  classes,  the  artisans,  clerks,  and  persons  of  moderate 
means  and  large  families,  are  yearly  becoming  more  and  more 
embarrassed,  narrowed,  and  insalubrious ;  and  it  may  reasonably  be 
feared  that  unless  this  important  portion  of  the  community  puts 
forth  some  intelligently  directed  and  combined  efforts  to  procure 
the  construction  of  dwellings  adapted  to  their  necessities,  this  city 
may  ere  long  present  the  strange  anomaly,  for  an  American  com- 
munity, of  the  entire  absoiption  of  the  artisan  and  middle  classes 
into  the  common  herd  of  the  utterly  dependent  and  tenant-house 
class.* 


*  The  diagram  here  presented,  furnishes  a  fresh  illustration  of  the  perilous  evils  to 
which  even  the  best  up-town  tenant-houses  are  exposed.     This  is  the  floor  plan  of  a 


lxxxii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


Improved  Dwellings  and  Model  Lodging  Houses  have  begun 
to  receive,  in  England,  that  practical  attention  which  the  wants  of 
great  cities  demand ;  but  in  New  York  this  subject  needs  to  be 
more  seriously  considered  than  it  has  been  hitherto,  and  it  is  man- 
ifestly necessary  that  definite  and  entirely  practicable  plans  for  the 
needed  improvements  should  be  suggested,  adopted,  and  fully  en- 
tered upon.  The  subject  is  not  new,  nor  does  the  Council  of 
Hygiene  stand  alone  in  thus  urging  the  attention  of  citizens  to  it, 
and  asking  in  the  name  of  humanity,  and  in  the  interest  of  the 
public  safety  and  an  advancing  civilization,  that  action  be  delayed 
no  longer.  The  public  mind  must  be  aroused  to  the  importance 
of  the  questions  that  stand  connected  with  this  subject ;  and  the 
Council  would  take  this  occasion  to  refer. to  the  very  comprehen- 
sive and  practical  suggestions  which  have  from  year  to  year  been 
put  forth  upon  these  questions  by  the  Association  for  Improving 
the  Condition  of  the  Poor  in  New  York.  In  the  last  Annual  Ke- 
port  of  that  most  useful  society,  it  is  stated  that  "large  masses 
of  the  population  are  debased  by  the  wretched  condition  in  which 
they  are  compelled  to  live.  These  conditions  should  he  improved ; 
still,  it  would  be  true  of  many  thousands,  that  if  left  to  the  un- 
controlled indulgence  of  their  reckless,  filthy  habits,  they  would 
convert  a  palace  into  a  pigsty,  and  create  '  fever-nests'  and  hot- 
beds of  vice  and  corruption,  under  circumstances  most  favorable  to 
health,  comfort,  and  social  elevation.  To  provide  healthfully  con- 
structed houses  for  this  semi-civilized  class  of  tenants  is  necessary, 
but  that  of  itself  would  be  insufficient ;  neither  would  mere  moral 
suasion  and  instruction  suffice.  The  Argus-eyed  vigilance  of  an 
intelligent  and  efficient  police  must  be  put  in  requisition  to  compel 
the  observance  of  such  regulations  in  respect  to  cleanliness  and  the 
general  condition  of  the  tenements  and  their  surroundings,  as  the 
preservation  of  public  and  private  health  requires."    In  a  pre- 

rcccntly-constructcd  multiple  domicile  designed  for,  and  now  occupied  by  twelve  families 
on  each  flat.  Situated  on  Broadway,  and  another  desirable  street,  near  the  Central  Turk, 
this  unvcntilated  and  fever-breeding  structure  will  doubtless  continue  to  be  filled  to  its 
utmost  capacity  with  families  of  the  middle  classes  who  pay  well  for  rents,  and  wish  to 
live  respectably. 

Here  arc  twelve  living-rooms  and  twenty-one  bed-rooms,  and  only  six  of  the  latter 
have  any  provision  or  possibility  for  the  admission  of  light  and  air,  excepting  through 
the  family  fitting  and  living-room  ;  being  utterly  dark,  close,  and  unvcntilated.  The  liv- 
ing rooms  are  but  10  by  12  feet;  the  bed-rooms,  0J  by  1  feet! 


TENANT-HOUSES  EST  NEW  YOKE. 


Lxxxiii 


vious  report,  the  Executive  Board  of  that  Association  states  em- 
phatically that  "  there  is  not  a  disinterested  individual  in  the  com- 
munity so  insensible  to  the  claims  of  justice  and  humanity  as  to 
say  that  such  dwellings  as  thousands  of  the  poor  now  inhabit 
should  be  tolerated.  If  the  owners  of  property  are  so  utterly  reck- 
less of  the  comfort,  morals,  health,  and  life  of  others,  and  of  the 
interests  of  the  community,  as  to  persist,  as  they  have  hitherto 
done,  in  the  letting  such  houses,  despite  the  knowledge  possessed 
of  their  deleterious  character,  the  Legislature  should  interpose  for 
the  protection  of  the  occupants."  * 

Individual  citizens,  actuated  by  philanthropic  motives,  have 
already  commenced  the  work  of  improvement  in  particular  classes 
of  tenements,  as  suggested  by  the  Association  for  Improving  the 

*  In  a  special  report  adopted  and  published  by  the  Board  of  that  Association,  in  the 
year  1853,  the  leading  questions  connected  with  the  sanitary  condition  and  wants  of 
the  laboring  classes  were  ably  presented,  and  the  following  among  other  remedial  agen- 
cies were  recommended : 

"  1.  That  the  subject  presents  a  forcible  appeal  to  capitalists  and  owners  of  real  estate, 
for  they  can  alone  engage  in  the  work.  Providence  has  made  them  to  differ  from  others 
in  wealth,  that  they  may  fulfil  the  obligation  of  '-doing  good  to  others  as  they  have  op- 
portunity.' Such  an  opportunity  as  rarely  occurs  is  here  presented.  Though  it  required 
sacrifices,  should  not  those  whose  wealth  has  been  chiefly  acquired  by  the  toil  of  the  poor, 
make  them  for  such  an  object  ?  But  as  sacrifices  are  not  demanded,  that  plea  is  taken 
away,  and  on  them  is  conferred  the  singular  privilege  of  becoming  benefactors  to  the  poor, 
with  pecuniary  advantage  to  themselves. 

"  2.  The  subject  demands  legislative  intervention.  That  legal  measures  should  be  re- 
sorted to,  and  may  be  legitimately  exercised,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  For  while  the  law 
zealously  guards  individual  liberty,  it  is  not  less  careful  that  the  liberty  guaranteed  shall 
be  so  used  as  not  to  annoy  others,  or  endanger  public  health.  In  other  words,  it  recog- 
nizes no  man's  right  to  pollute  the  atmosphere  of  a  neighborhood  by  breeding  a  pestilence 
in  his  own  domicile.  We  are  dependent  upon  legislation  for  supplies  of  water,  construction 
of  sewers,  abatement  of  nuisances,  and  the  inspection  of  numerous  articles  of  food ;  also 
for  the  protection  of  health,  property,  and  life ;  while  it  imperatively  forbids  under  heavy 
penalties  whatever  is  indirectly  incompatible  with  the  security  of  these  important  objects. 

"  Pure  air,  light,  and  water  being  indispensable  to  health  and  life,  if  tenements  are  so 
badly  constructed  as  to  preclude  a  proper  supply  of  these  essential  elements,  the  law 
should  interpose  for  the  protection  of  the  sufferers,  and  either  close  up  such  dwellings  or 
cause  them  to  be  so  remodelled  as  to  be  fit  for  human  habitations.  Thus,  also,  in  the  con- 
struction of  now  tenements,  a  certain  amount  of  superficial  area,  height  of  ceiling,  facili- 
ties for  heating  and  ventilation,  etc.,  should  be  furnished,  under  suitable  penalties  for  neg- 
lect, and  the  number  of  inmates  to  each  limited  by  law,  if  practicable,  as  is  now  done  on 
board  emigrant  ships.  No  nuisances,  moreover,  should  be  allowed,  and  domiciliary  clean- 
liness rigidly  enforced  wherever  health  was  endangered  by  neglect." 


lxxxiv 


EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


Condition  of  the  Poor ;  but  there  yet  appears  to  he  wanting  such 
a  plan  or  scheme  of  construction,  of  location,  and  general  effort,  as 
should  effectually  call  out  the  popular  interest,  the  investments,  and 
the  skill  that  are  necessary ;  and  also  to  induce  the  requisite  com- 
bination of  conditions  to  give  the  needed  degree  of  confidence  and 
success  to  the  efforts  that  have  hitherto  been  made.  The  Council 
of  Hygiene  does  not  deem  it  especially  its  duty  to  examine  the 
merits  of  plans,  or  discuss  questions  of  economy  that  govern  the 
application  of  capital,  as  regards  the  dwelling  improvements  which 
are  so  imperatively  required  in  this  city.  It  is  believed  that  the 
economical  aspects  of  the  sanitary  question  alone  should  awaken 
the  attention,  and  secure  the  cooperation  of  capitalists,  and  of  all 
classes  of  good  citizens,  in  efforts  to  procure  the  improvements  that 
are  required  for  the  physical  welfare  of  the  dependent  classes.  The 
adequate  supply  of  fresh  air,  sunlight,  and  all  needed  facilities  for 
insuring  domestic  cleanliness  and  home  comfort  is  a  sanitary  ques- 
tion ;  and  viewed  in  this  light,  it  is  a  duty  to  state  emphatically 
that  the  tenant-houses  as  a  class  are  shamefully  deficient  in  these 
essential  requisites  of  health.  The  Sanitary  Inspectors  have  re- 
ported upon  the  few  improved  tenant-houses  found  in  their  respec- 
tive districts,  and  diagrams  illustrating  particular  improvements 
will  be  found  in  the  Eleventh,  Seventeenth,  and  Twenty-first  in- 
spection reports,  as  published  in  the  Second  Paet  of  the  volume ; 
but  they  simply  show  what  improvements  may  readily  be  intro- 
duced into  the  worst  of  our  tenant-barracks.  No  example  can  yet 
be  shown  of  the  successful  attainment  of  all  the  essential  conditions 
and  appliances  of  healthy  homes  in  a  tenant-house  on  a  large  scale, 
or  upon  single  lots  and  ordinary  areas.  In  view  of  this  fact,  the 
Council  has  made  some  inquiry  regarding  plans  that  have  met 
with  success  in  Great  Britain,  where  the  whole  subject  of  Dwelling 
Improvements  has  been  carefully  considered.  In  the  overcrowded 
cities  of  that  country  the  same  questions  that  are  most  prominently 
presented  in  New  York,  are  also  under  consideration.  But  there, 
capital,  philanthropic  effort,  and  scientific  skill  have  combined  to 
work  out  the  problems  that  now  command  the  same  combination 
and  same  liberality  here.  The  plans  and  efforts  that  havg  en- 
listed the  minds  of  Prince  Albert,  Lord  Shaftsbury,  and  the  lead- 
ing friends  of  humanity  in  England,  have  reached  such  maturity  of 
results  as  to  satisfy  the  highest  anticipations  and  promises,  both  as 


TENANT-HOUSES  IN  NEW  YORK. 


lxxxv 


regards  the  saving  of  life,  health,  and  public  morals,  and  the  actual 
compensation  of  the  capitalist.  So  well  convinced  of  this  fact  was 
IVIr.  Peabody,  the  well-known  American  hanker  in  London,  that 
his  munificent  gift  for  the  benefit  of  the  London  poor  has  been 
already  largely  applied  in  Model  Dwelling  Improvements.* 

The  following  facts  appear  to  have  been  well  established  re- 
garding means  by  which  success  has  been,  and  is  being  attained  in 
the  schemes  of  Dwelling  Improvement  abroad : 

First.  That  sanitary  knowledge  and  architectural  skill  must  be 
combined  in  the  production  of  the  necessary  plans  of  construction. 

Second.  That,  however  sincere  and  devoted  the  philanthropy 
and  zeal  that  advocates  the  improvements  and  procures  the  coope- 
ration of  capitalists  in  such  improvements,  the  improved  houses 
must  pay  a  reasonable  interest  upon  the  capital  invested,  or  but 
little  progress  will  be  made  and  but  a  small  amount  of  relief  be  af- 
forded to  the  classes  for  whose  benefit  the  efforts  are  made. 

All  this,  of  course,  is  so  reasonable  that  no  further  remarks  upon 
either  of  the  two  propositions  are  required.  It  now  remains  to 
present  a  single  example  of  the  successful  combination  of  all  these 
essential  conditions  in  working  out  the  grand  result.  For  this  pur- 
pose it  is  believed,  from  recent  reports,  that  the  history  and  plans 

*  One  third  of  the  £150,000  given  by  Mr.  Peabody  to  the  London  poor  has  already 
been  expended  in  model  tenant-houses  and  lands  for  that  purpose.  Five  blocks  of  the 
buildings  are  completed.  The  essential  features  of  the  first  one  occupied  are  thus  de- 
scribed : 

"  It  is  a  stately  edifice,  more  than  200  feet  long,  on  Green  Man's  Lane,  containing 
fifty-seven  tenements,  all  occupied,  and  nine  shops  in  Commercial  Street,  Spitalfields. 
******* 

"The  living-rooms  throughout  the  building  average  13  feet  by  10  feet,  and  the  bed- 
rooms 13  feet  by  8  feet,  while  their  uniform  height  is  8  feet.  The  staircase  and  corridors 
are  well  lit  with  gas,  and  the  fourth  or  top  floor  is  occupied  by  laundries,  areas  for  drying 
clothes,  and  as  a  playground  for  the  children  in  wet  weather,  and  by  bath-rooms.  There 
are  lavatories  on  every  floor  for  ordinary  toilet  purposes,  and  a  bath  can  always  be  ob- 
tained by  the  short  and  simple  process  of  asking  the  superintendent  for  the  key  of  the 
room.  In  fine  weather  the  enclosed  yard  is  an  admirable  play-ground  for  the  tenants 
children,  and,  a  rule  excluding  all  playmates  from  the  outside  being  rigidly  enforced,  they 
are  preserved  from  evil  associates  and  consequent  contamination.  In  the  centre  of  the 
ground-floor,  and  dividing  the  shops  pretty  equally  on  either  hand,  are  the  offices  and 
dwelling-rooms  of  the  superintendent,  an  old  soldier,  whose  duty  it  is  to  keep  the  books, 
receive  the  weekly  rent,  and  see  that  the  few  and  simple  rules  laid  down  by  the  trustees 
are  properly  observed.  A  copy  of  these  is  supplied  to  each  tenant  at  the  commencement 
of  his  term." 


lxxxvi 


REPORT  OF  COEXCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


of  Mr.  Peabody's  Improved  Dwellings  might  properly  be  brought 
forward ;  but  the  plan  of  the  first  buildings  constructed  by  the 
trustees  of  his  gift  extends  over  a  larger  area  than  would  often  be 
adopted  in  New  York  :  The  experience  also  has  been  brief.  The 
example  we  prefer  to  present  is  that  of  Mr.  Alderman  "Waterlow's 
"  Healthy  Dwellings  for  the  Industrial  Classes."  On  the  opposite 
page  is  shown  a  diagram  of  the  Floor  Plan  of  the  first  tenant  dwell- 
ing erected  by  Mr.  Waterlow  in  Finsbury  Square,  London.  It  was 
designed  for  and  is  occupied  by  the  families  of  industrious  men 
with  small  means. 

This  plan  is  presented  as  an  illustration  of  success  in  the  attain- 
ment of  the  requisite  conditions  for  healthy  homes  in  a  tenant- 
house.  In  this  house  twenty  families  are  accommodated,  and  can 
enjoy  that  -kind  of  domestic  comfort  and  convenience  which  is  es- 
sential to  physical  and  social  health.* 

*  The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  architect's  description  of  the  plan  here  shown : 
"  The  general  plan  may  be  described  as  a  parallellogram  of  56  feet  by  44  feet,  divided 
into  four  sections  by  a  party  wall  in  the  centre  and  the  two  passages  (EE)  in  the  middle 
of  each  wing.  The  two  centre  sections  are  set  back  about  3  feet  from  the  line  of  frontage, 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  space  for  a  balcony  of  that  width  on  each  of  the  upper  floors. 
Each  section  comprises  one  suite  of  rooms,  to  which  access  is  obtained  from  the  passages 
(EE)  leading  (on  all  the  upper  floors)  direct  from  the  balcony  (G).  The  balconies  are 
reached  by  a  fireproof  staircase  having  a  semi-elliptical  form,  the  entrances  to  which  are 
shown  on  the  elevation  by  the  two  doorways  in  the  centre  of  the  building.  This  staircase 
is  continued  to  and  gives  access  to  the  roof.  The  larger  lettings,  consisting  of  three  rooms 
and  a  wash-house,  occupy  the  end  sections  of  the  building.  E  D  is  the  entrance  door ;  B 
is  a  living-room,  provided  with  a  range  having  an  oven  and  boiler.  Leading  out  of  the  liv- 
ing-room is  the  wash-house  or  scullery  (A),  which  contains  in  every  case  what  may  be 
called  the  accessories  of  the  dwelling — water  cistern,  sink,  a  small  fireplace,  washing  cop- 
per, dust-shoot,  water-closet,  &c.  It  i3  expected  that  the  fireplace  in  the  wash-house  will 
conduce  greatly  to  the  comfort  of  the  living-room  in  the  summer  time.  C  is  a  comforta- 
ble bed-room  having  a  fireplace  ;  a  capacious  cupboard  (H)  is  arranged  in  the  party  wall 
between  this  room  and  the  entrance  lobby,  and  over  the  latter  is  a  useful  receptacle  for 
the  stowage  of  bulky  objects.  Passing  out  toward  the  front  parlor  (D)  is  a  scries  of 
shelves  having  an  artificial  stone  bottom  and  back,  intended  by  its  proximity  to  the  living- 
room  to  serve  as  a  cupboard  for  provisions,  &c.  D  is  a  spacious  handsome  parlor,  having 
two  windows :  the  fireplace  is  placed  a  little  out  of  the  centre  of  the  room,  so  as  to  leave 
a  convenient  space  in  which  to  put  an  additional  lied  in  cases  where  this  would  be  required 
to  be  used  as  a  bed-room.  On  the  other  side  of  the  fireplace  is  a  sideboard  and  cupboard. 

"  The  centre  sections,  comprising  the  smaller  lettings,  consist  of  two  rooms  and  a  wash- 
bousc,  tic.  The  wash-house  A  nnd  the  living-room  B  arc  exactly  similar  to  those  in  the 
larger  letting.  The  bedroom  C  can  be  conveniently  converted  into  a  parlor  by  arranging 
a  set  of  curtains  across  the  recess  at  the  back  of  the  room,  and  thus  dividing  the  part 
where  the  bed  would  be  placed  from  the  rest  of  the  apartment.    WWW  represent  the 


A  GOOD  PLAN  OF  HEALTHY  DWELLING*. 


TENANT-HOUSES  EST  NEW  YOKE. 


lxxxvii 


Fresh  air  and  sunlight  in  every  apartment,  a  convenient  and 
proper  distribution  of  domestic  apartments,  a  convenient  arrange- 
ment of  the  domiciles  with  reference  to  local  drainage  and  the 
avoidance  of  all  nuisances,  and  a  plan  of  arrangement  of  the  re- 
spective domiciles,  and  of  access  thereto,  that  in  a  great  measure 
overcomes  the  tendency  to  gregarious  herding  that  prevails  in  or- 
dinary tenant-houses  are  attained  in  this  plan. 

Let  plans  like  this  be  so  modified  and  Americanized  as  to  suit 
American  tastes  and  preferences,  and  the  value  of  such  domiciles 
would  become  sufficiently  popular  to  make  them  pay  even  a  higher 
rental  than  Alderman  Waterlow  now  receives,  and  which  was,  for 
the  first  year,  about  nine  per  cent,  upon  total  investment  and  lease- 
hold. Pure  air,  sunlight,  domestic  convenience,  comfort,  and  home 
quietude,  can  be  provided  for  the  industrial  and  poor  classes ;  and 
although  such  a  plan  as  the  one  represented  in  the  preceding  dia- 
gram is  particularly  designed  for  families  that  are  a  grade  above 
the  humblest  day  laborer,  it  were  well  that  some  attention  should 
first  be  given  to  those  classes  that  most  deserve,  and  most  certainly 
and  speedily  repay  the  efforts  that  are  put  forth  for  their  welfare. 
And  it  need  not  be  doubted  that  our  own  architects  and  civil  en- 
windows.  The  plan  is  the  same  on  each  side  of  the  party  walls,  and  every  floor  or  flat  is 
a  repetition  of  the  other.  Close  to  the  ceilings  of  all  the  rooms  a  ventilator  is  placed 
which  communicates  with  air  shafts  running  through  the  centres  of  the  chimney-staoks. 
The  air  is  thus  constantly  rarefied,  and  a  system  of  natural  ventilation  is  produced.  Be- 
sides this,  it  will  be  seen  that  by  setting  open  the  windows  a  current  of  external  air  can 
be  at  once  passed  through  every  room  in  the  direction  of  the  dotted  lines.  The  lower  panes 
of  the  windows  are  filled  in  with  ornamental  ground  glass,  so  that  no  window-blinds  are 
necessary.  The  windows  are  constructed  on  a  somewhat  novel  principle,  being  made  to 
open  outward  like  ordinary  French  casements  ;  but  the  two  lower  panes  are  not  made  to 
open,  so  that  the  danger  of  children  falling  out,  as  well  as  the  disadvantages  of  the  ordi- 
nary window  sashes,  are  avoided.  All  the  rooms  are  8  ft.  9  in.  in  height.  The  other  di- 
mensions arc  figured  on  the  plan,  and  need  not  be  repeated  here.  Drainage  is  effected  by 
means  of  4-in.  stoneware  pipes  passing  from  the  top  of  the  building  down  the  corners  of 
the  wash-houses  directly  to  the  common  sewer.  The  dust-shaft  carries  the  dust  to  covered 
receptacles  at  the  base  of  the  building,  and  each  shoot  is  provided  with  an  iron  cover  so  as 
to  prevent  the  return  of  dust  and  effluvia.  The  dust-shafts  are  also  continued  to  the  top 
of  the  building,  and  act  as  ventilators  to  the  dust-bins.  All  the  rooms  are  plastered  and 
papered,  and  the  wash-houses  are  plastered  and  colored.  Every  tenant  has  his  apartments 
completely  to  himself,  and  nothing  is  used  in  common  except  the  roof  as  a  drying  and 
recreation  ground.  By  extending  the  area  of  the  building  three  or  four  feet  in  every  direc- 
tion the  size  of  the  rooms  could  be  easily  increased,  and  suites  of  rooms  obtained  well 
adapted  to  the  requirements  of  any  class  of  the  community."  A  flower-garden  and  grass- 
plat  occupy  the  rear  yard,  neatly  kept  by  the  superintendent  of  the  house. 


Ixxxviii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


gineers  will  succeed  in  producing  plans  that  shall  he  found  entirely 
adequate  to  meet  any  existing  demand  for  improved  dwellings  for 
the  poor,  and  that  they  will  improve  and  simplify  any  good  Euro- 
pean models  that  may  he  proposed. 

The  time  for  action  has  come.  The  evils  that  characterize  the 
present  tenant-house  system  demand  remedies  which  can  he  applied 
only  by  the  wealth  and  intelligence  of  citizens,  and  by  the  interpo- 
sition of  well-administered  sanitary  regulations.*  The  statistics, 
the  thousands  of  pages  of  sanitary  records  by  the  Medical  Inspect- 
ors, the  death  and  burial  records  of  the  City  Inspector's  Office,  and 
the  not  less  significant  records  of  the  criminal  calendar,  the  peni- 
tentiary, the  almshouse,  the  fever-hospital,  and  the  orphan-asy- 
lums, might  all  be  quoted  and  placed  in  the  argument  in  favor  of 
an  enlightened,  prompt,  and  effective  effort  to  improve  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  poor  ;  but  the  facts  relating  to  the  sanitary  bearings  of 
this  subject  having  now  been  fairly  presented,  the  Council  would 
give  a  practical  direction  to  deep  convictions  that  are  entertained 
by  its  members,  by  recommending : 

First. — That  capitalists,  architects,  and  huilders  should  unite  in 
devising  and  executing  the  construction  of  improved  dwellings 
for  the  industrial  classes  in  the  city. 

*  The  philanthropic  and  thoughtful  Rector  of  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  whose  life  and  teach- 
ings present  an  instructive  example  of  successful  effort  for  improving  the  welfare  of  the 
poor  and  suffering  classes  in  New  York,  in  a  recent  appeal  on  behalf  of  the  moral  interests 
of  those  classes,  says :  "  Look  at  those  quarters  of  your  city  where  the  people  herd  by  fif- 
ties and  by  hundreds  in  a  house,  street  after  street.  Look  at  them  huddled  together  in 
narrow  rooms,  with  surroundings  and  effluvia  where  a  half-hour's  stay  would  sicken  you. 
See  places  which  might  rather  be  stalls  or  sties  than  human  abodes.  Look  at  the  swarms 
of  children  in  the  streets,  on  the  stoops,  at  the  windows,  half-naked  or  in  unwashed  rags. 
Sec  the  crowds  of  rough,  half-grown  boys  in  knots  at  the  corners,  quick  at  all  sorts  of  wick- 
edness, loud  in  foulness  aud  blasphemy,  the  ready  and  the  worst  element  of  your  riots. 
Mark  the  looks  and  the  talk  of  the  populace  of  the  dram-shops,  and  then  the  exhibitions 
of  godlessncss,  drunkenness,  and  licentiousness  on  the  Lord's  day,  turning  it,  I  had  almost 
said,  into  Satan's  day.  And  why  do  I  ask  you  to  look  at  such  a  revolting  state  of  things 
among  those  thousands  of  your  neighbors  ?  In  the  hope  that  aught  which  you  or  I  can 
do  will  better  it  ?  To  propose  any  scheme  for  its  material  improvement  ?  Alas,  no.  The 
evil  is  too  gigantic  for  any  grasp  of  reform  at  all  conceivable.  It  calls  for  legislative  in- 
terference ;  and  that,  could  any  practicable  mode  of  melioration  be  shown,  would  call  for 
more  public  virtue  than  exists.  This  massing  of  human  beings,  prolific  of  those  vices  and 
miseries,  is  profitable  to  too  many  pockets.  The  exorbitant  rents  of  the  smallest  dens  or 
of  the  larger  tenements  swell  the  gains  of  landlords,  who  have  the  plea  for  any  amount  of 
rapacity  that  they  only  meet  a  demand." — "  St.  John-Laiul :  A  Kctro-Prospcctus."  Uy 
Kev.  Win.  A.  Muhlenberg,  D.  D. 


SAXITAKY  "WANTS  OF  PRIVATE  DWELLINGS,  ETC.  lxxxix 


Second. — That  effective  measures  be  immediately  undertaken  to 
procure  the  introduction  of  needed  improvements  in  the  ventila- 
tion^ lighting,  and  cleanliness  of  the  tenant-houses  of  the  city. 

Third. — That  citizens  should  put  forth  the  requisite  efforts  to  pro- 
cure the  enactment  and  execution  of  suitable  sanitary  laws  for 
the  better  regidation  of  tenant-houses,  and  to  enforce  the  neces- 
sary care  and  cleanliness  of  the  same  by  the  owners,  lessees,  and 
occupants. 

Foukth. — That  a  Department  of  Social  Statistics  and  Dwelling 
Improvement  be  maintained  in  connection  with  the  flan  of 
labors  pursued  by  the  Council  of  Hygiene  and  the  Board  of 
Engineers  and  Architects  of  the  Citizens'  Association  of  New 
York,  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  and  imparting  needed  in- 
formation relating  to  the  social  statistics  and  improvements  in 
dwellings  which  sanitary  science  and  the  public  welfare  require, 
and  which  will  best  conduce  to  the  immediate  development  and 
execution  of  successful  plans  and  examples  of  the  dwelling  im- 
provements which  are  demanded  for  the  physical  and  the  so- 
cial xvelfare  of  the  industrial  classes. 

SANITARY  WANTS  OF  PRIVATE  DWELLINGS,  HOTELS,  PUBLIC  HALLS,  AND 
PUBLIC  CONVEYANCES. 

An  abundant  supply  of  fresh  air,  at  a  proper  temperature,  is 
the  first  requisite  of  health  in  every  place.  Whatever  else  may  he 
neglected  in  the  arrangements  for  personal  comfort,  the  laws  of 
health  render  it  unjustifiable  to  allow  any  failure  to  supply  an 
abundance  of  pure  fresh  air  to  every  apartment  or  place  that  is  oc- 
cupied by  human  beings,  whether  temporarily  or  permanently. 
Great  improvement  has  been  made  in  the  ventilation  of  certain  pri- 
vate residences  in  this  city  during  the  past  few  years,  but  there  yet 
prevails  a  general  neglect  of  the  means  of  ventilation  in  the  hotels, 
church  edifices,  schoolrooms,  public  halls,  and  railway  carriages, 
Bteamships,  and  passenger  boats,  in  which  millions  of  persons  are 
every  year  exposed  to  the  prevalent  evils  of  a  vitiated  atmosphere. 
In  this  Report  the  Council  would  mention  this  subject  solely  for 
the  purpose  of  inviting  renewed  attention  to  its  practical  import- 
ance, and  to  the  duty  of  providing  sanitary  regulations  relating  to 
air-supply  in  all  public  buildings  and  public  conveyances  in  which 
large  numbers  of  people  are  frequently  gathered. 


xc 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


Observation  and  experience  have  abundantly  verified  the  con- 
clusio7i  that  for  healthy  respiration,  a  person  requires  a  constant 
supply  of  fresh  air  at  the  rate  of  ten  cubic  feet  per  minute,  or  six 
hundred  cubic  feet  every  hour ;  and  it  has  been  decided  by  the 
best  authority  that  where  large  numbers  of  persons  are  assembled 
in  the  same  apartment  or  building,  the  rate  of  air-supply  should 
not  be  less  than  about  one  thousand  cubic  feet  per  hour,  and 
that  the  space  allotted  to  each  individual  should  not  be  much 
less  than  a  thousand  cubic  feet,  in  ordinary  apartments :  yet  the 
all-essential  point  that  should  be  kept  in  mind  in  all  estimations 
and  plans  of  ventilation  is  the  amount,  certainty,  and  constancy  of 
the  supply  of  fresh  air.  However  unnecessarily  and  seriously 
individuals  may  deprive  themselves  of  the  blessings  of  a  pure  and 
health  giving  atmosphere  in  their  private  dwellings,  the  necessities 
of  public  health  and  safety,  no  less  than  the  simple  principles  of 
humanity  and  justice,  require  that  in  all  public  buildings,  halls, 
hotels,  school-rooms,  etc.,  and  in  all  public  conveyances  that 
are  liable  to  be  crowded  with  a  large  number  of  persons,  there 
should  be  a  strict  enforcement  of  sanitary  regulations  for  ventila- 
tion. The  fact  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  worshippers  in 
chapels,  the  audiences  in  concert  rooms,  theatres,  and  assemblies ; 
the  thousands  of  children  that  throng  our  school-rooms ;  and  the 
millions  of  persons  who  crowd  the  railway  carriages,  ferry-boats, 
and  passenger  vessels,  are  utterly  dependent  upon  the  public  au- 
thorities, and  the  persons  who  prepare  the  structures  for  public  use, 
for  the  vital  air  which  the  laws  of  life  require  to  be  freshly  supplied 
every  moment.  Especially  is  it  necessary  that  public  authority 
should  be  exercised  over  the  ventilation  of  such  places  where  the 
allotment  of  aerial  or  cubical  space  to  each  individual  is  very  limit- 
ed, as  in  railway  cars,  assembly  rooms,  and  school  buildings ;  and 
nowhere  is  the  necessity  for  such  a  sanitary  regulation  of  air-sup- 
ply or  ventilation  more  urgent  than  in  the  tenant-houses  of  this 
city.  Considerations  of  humanity,  as  well  as  the  necessities  of  the 
public  health  and  safety,  require  that  this  subject  should  receive 
the  immediate  and  most  practical  attention  of  competent  authori- 
ties. 

The  local  or  house  drainage  of  the  various  classes  of  dwellings 
in  the  city  demands  better  regulation;  for,  in  consequence  of  im- 
perfections in  soil-pipes,  stench-traps,  sewer  connections,  etc.,  par- 


SANITARY  WANTS  OF  PRIVATE  DWELLINGS,  ETC.  Xci 

ticularly  as  regards  populous  and  crowded  habitations,  such  as 
tenant-houses,  boarding-houses,  and  hotels,  a  vast  number  of  cases 
of  obstinate  diarrhoeal  complaints  and  typhoid  fever  are  induced. 
Frequent  allusions  to  this  subject  have  been  made  by  the  Sanitary 
Inspectors. 

NEGLECTED  PRIVIES  AND  DARK  PLACES. 

The  unspeakable  filthiness  and  neglect  of  the  privies  pertaining 
to  the  tenant-houses  demand  attention.  These  necessaries  of  every 
domicile  are  so  neglected  and  filthy  in  all  the  crowded  districts  of 
the  city  as  to  have  become  prolific  sources  of  obstinate  and  fatal 
maladies  of  a  diarrhoeal  and  febrile  character,  and  they  must  be 
reckoned  among  the  most  active  of  localizing  causes  of  prevailing 
diseases  among  the  poor.  The  miserable  economy  that  has  attach- 
ed to  every  tenant-house,  court,  or  cellar  a  series  of  midden  sinks, 
frequently  without  any  sewer  connection,  and  seldom  with  suffi- 
cient drainage  of  any  kind,  should  be  superseded  by  suitable  water- 
closet  arrangements  for  constant  "  flushing  "  and  cleanliness.  Re- 
form in  these  matters  is  vitally  important  to  the  health  of  tenant- 
houses. 

The  exclusion  of  sunlight  from  the  domiciles  of  the  poor  is 
another  violation  of  the  laws  of  health,  and  it  is  a  wrong  against 
the  dependent  human  beings  who  inhabit  such  houses.  The  nar- 
row and  well-like  courts,  and  the  back-to-back  rear  tenant-houses, 
that  are  so  numerous  in  the  pauvres  fatibourgs  of  our  city,  are  per- 
nicious at  once  to  the  health  and  morals  of  such  localities ;  they 
inevitably  become  haunts  of  social  debasement  and  vice,  as  well  as 
of  fevers  and  every  bodily  disease. 

The  immediate  and  permanently  advantageous  results  of  the 
sanitary  improvement  of  dwelling-houses,  particularly  of  those 
occupied  by  the  poor,  can  scarcely  be  overstated.  Says  Miss 
Nightingale,  "  It  is  a  fact  demonstrated  by  statistics  that  in  the 
improved  dwellings,  the  mortality  has  fallen,  in  certain  cases,  from 
25  to  14  per  1,000  ;  and  that  in  the  common  '  lodging-houses,'  which 
have  been  hot-beds  of  epidemics,  such  diseases  have  almost  dis- 
appeared through  the  adoption  of  sanitary  measures."  The  results 
of  the  great  experiment  of  improved  and  well- ventilated  dwellings 
for  the  industrial  classes  in  London  are  abundantly  decisive  of  the 
fact  that  by  means  of  such  an  improvement  alone,  the  sickness- 


xcii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


rates  and  the  mortality  in  the  families  thus  benefited  are  readily 
reduced  in  the  striking  ratio  mentioned  by  Miss  Nightingale. 

For  example,  the  Society  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
Laboring  Classes  in  London,  recently  reported  that  the  total  pop- 
ulation of  the  model  lodging  or  tenant-houses,  which  it  had  con- 
structed, was  2,186,  and  that  the  total  number  of  deaths  in  the 
same  the  last  year  was  45,  or  but  20£  in  the  1,000.  This  would  give 
but  1  death  in  49  of  the  inhabitants ;  and  yet  upon  the  same 
ground,  in  former  years,  when  the  same  families  occupied  the  old 
tenements — unventilated  and  surrounded  by  domestic  filth — the 
rate  of  mortality  was  more  than  twice  as  great.  But  it  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  dwell  upon  the  details  of  this  subject.  The  intelligent 
citizens  of  New  York  can,  with  the  blessing  of  Providence,  work 
out  results  as  great  as  those  which  in  a  single  year  reduced  the 
mortality  fifty  per  cent,  in  a  particular  district  of  St.  Giles,  by 
means  of  cleansing  and  ventilation.  At  the  same  time  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  architects,  builders,  and  the  proprietors  of 
the  more  important  of  the  public  buildings,  hotels,  railway  and 
water  conveyances  would  not  be  indifferent  to  practical  suggestions 
for  the  sanitary  improvements  that  are  required  at  their  hands  for 
the  public  welfare. 

SPECIAL  NUISANCES. 

Civilization  and  refinement,  in  a  city  like  New  York,  encoun- 
ters the  same  elements  of  debasement  that  stand  in  the  way  of 
effectual  sanitary  reforms ;  but  all  the  laws  of  health  and  all  sani- 
tary works  are  justly  counted  among  the  most  valued  agencies  of 
social  elevation  and  refinement,  and  were  there  not  abundant  force 
in  the  sanitary  reasons  for  the  abatement  of  needless  nuisances, 
and  for  the  special  management  of  all  the  necessarily  offensive  ma- 
terials and  operations  which  are  incident  to  civic  life,  we  might  leave 
to  the  pleadings  of  an  offended  and  refined  community,  and  to  the 
aggrieved  senses  of  a  million  of  people,  the  argument  and  the  effort 
to  procure  the  abatement  of  the  gross  nuisances  that  abound  in 
various  districts  of  the  city.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  wisely  admin- 
istered sanitary  regulations  would  altogether  remove  and  prohibit 
nearly  every  source  of  public  nuisance  in  this  city.  It  is  not  our 
purpose  to  present  unnecessary  details  upon  this  subject,  but  sim 


SPECIAL  NUISANCES. 


xciii 


ply  to  state  what  nuisances  are  to  be  regarded  as  injurious  to  pub- 
lic health  and  to  individual  welfare  in  our  city.  They  may  be 
enumerated  as  follows :  (1)  filthy  streets ;  (2)  neglected  garbage 
and  domestic  refuse ;  (3)  obstructed  and  faulty  sewers  and  drains ; 
(4)  neglected  privies  and  stables ;  (5)  cattle  pens  and  large  stables 
in  the  more  populous  districts;  (6)  neglected  and  filthy  markets; 
(7)  slaughter-houses  and  hide  and  fat  depots  in  close  proximity  to 
populous  streets ;  (8)  droves  of  cattle  and  swine  in  crowded  streets ; 
(9)  swill-milk  stables  and  their  products ;  (10)  bone-boiling,  fat- 
melting,  and  their  accompaniments  within  the  city  limits ;  (11)  the 
sulphuretted,  ammoniacal,  and  carburetted  gases  and  offensive 
exhalations  that  are  needlessly  liberated  and  widely  diffused  in  gas 
manufacture  and  purification  ;  (12)  the  accumulations  of  dumping- 
grounds  and  manure-yards  in  vicinity  of  populous  streets ;  (13)  the 
present  management  of  refuse  and  junk  materials  in  the  city;  (11) 
the  unreasonable  overcrowding  of  tbe  city  railway  cars,  and  the 
absence  of  all  sanitary  authority,  permitting  the  unguarded  transit 
and  public  exposure  of  persons  with  small-pox  and  other  loath- 
some maladies  in  the  public  conveyances  and  otherwise  in  the 
streets ;  (15)  the  neglect  of  dead  animals  in  the  streets  and  gutters 
of  the  city. 

]STo  section  of  the  city  has  any  security  against  the  encroach- 
ment or  actual  presence  of  these  nuisances.  A  chart  of  nuisances 
as  they  actually  existed,  and  were  described  by  the  Sanitary  In- 
spectors, in  the  autumn  of  1861,  is  presented  here,  for  the  purpose 
of  illustrating  the  fact  that  even  the  most  favored  and  wealthy  dis- 
tricts of  the  city  are  seriously  encroached  upon  by  the  most  remov- 
able offensive  nuisances.  It  should  be  sufficient  cause  to  insure  the 
proper  effort  to  effect  the  removal  and  prevention  of  such  nuisances 
that  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  report  that  all  the  nuisances  we  have 
here  mentioned  are  positive  sources  of  disease,  and  that  they  have 
been  and  are  efficient  causes  in  localizing  the  prevalence  of  fatal 
diseases.  The  particular  character,  extent,  and  insalubrious  influ- 
ence of  the  nuisances  here  mapped  out,  will  be  found  more  fully 
described  in  the  Second  Part  of  this  volume. 

The  relation  of  some  of  these  nuisances  to  the  origin  and  local- 
ization of  diarrhoeal  and  typhoid  diseases  in  their  neighborhood 
appears  to  have  been  Avell  established  by  careful  observation  and 
medical  inquiry;  and  there  is  indubitable  evidence  that  certain 


xciv 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


unseen  sources  of  the  most  fatal  kinds  of  disease  lurk  in  the  un- 
flushed  and  uncleaned  sewers  and  house  drains,  when  obstructed 
or  neglected,  and  that  there  is  great  danger  that  the  filthy  condi- 
tion, faulty  construction  and  bad  management  of  privy  vaults  in 
the  crowded  districts  will  not  only  continue  to  be  among  the  most 
distinct  and  offensive  sources  of  obstinate  disease,  but  that  ere 
long  they  will  become  associated  with  the  active  and  localizing 
causes  of  fatal  epidemics.  Putrescible  organic  matter,  whether  of 
animal  or  vegetable  origin,  when  left  to  decay  in  the  midst  of  a 
populous  neighborhood,  will  very  certainly  induce  diseases  of  some 
sort.  It  is  particularly  on  this  account  that  the  medical  and  hy- 
gienic adviser  is  compelled  to  enter  a  protest  against  all  needless 
herding  and  stabling  of  animals  in  the  midst  of  densely  populated 
streets ;  and  with  yet  greater  force  is  this  objection  urged  against 
all  the  slaughter-pens  and  their  adjunct  nuisances,  wherever  located 
in  the  thickly  inhabited  portion  of  the  city. 

The  173  slaughter  houses  in  this  city  are  too  offensive  to  health 
and  decency  to  be  longer  permitted  in  their  present  localities. 
These  establishments  are  now  thrust  into  the  midst  of  the  most 
crowded  districts,  and  it  is  to  be  observed  that  a  loathsome  train  of 
dependent  nuisances  is  found  grouped  in  the  same  neighborhoods. 
We  need  not  comment  upon  the  offensive  and  debasing  influence 
of  the  scenes  and  processes  of  the  slaughter-pen.  The  intelligence 
and  refined  tastes  of  the  people  should  enforce  the  demands  of 
hygiene,  and  at  once  devise  a  practical  scheme  of  abattoirs  that 
shall  be  adapted  to  the  wants  of  this  populous  and  growing  me- 
tropolis.*   That  there  is  a  growing  necessity  for  a  faithful  in- 

*  The  great  abattoir  system  of  Paris  is  in  effect  one  of  its  sanitary  institutions.  There 
we  sec  the  business  of  slaughtering  animals  not  only  rendered  inoffensive  to  health  and 
decency,  but  the  process  itself  so  managed  as  to  insure  the  proper  inspection  and  care  of 
the  animals  at  the  lime  of  slaughter,  with  reference  to  the  protection  of  the  public  health. 
At  the  time  of  Sir  Francis  Head's  visit  to  the  Parisian  abattoirs,  he  states  there  were  66 
boucficrics  in  the  abattoir  de  Monlmarlre  alone,  and  that  the  number  of  fat-melting  houses 
within  its  walls  was  48;  the  number  of  beef  cattle  slaughtered  every  week,  1,300;  the 
number  of  calves,  650  ;  the  number  of  sheep,  3,500. 

The  importance  of  providing  by  law  for  the  proper  sanitary  care  and  supervision  of 
butcheries  and  shambles  is  understood  by  intelligent  market-men,  and  it  needs  to  be  un- 
derstood by  the  municipal  nnd  health  authorities.  Self-protection  will  ere  long  compul  tho 
people  to  ask  the  intervention  of  the  State  to  regulate  the  butcheries  and  the  market  sys- 
tem of  this  city,  if  municipal  authority  and  private  cnteiprisc  do  not  soon  remedy  tho 
existing  evils. 


ENCROACHMENT    OF    NUISANCES    UPON    POPULOUS    UPTOWN  DISTRICTS. 


SPECIAL  NUISANCES. 


XCV 


spection  of  slaughtered  animals  and  other  food  articles  previous 
to  their  being  offered  in  market,  is  testified  by  the  best  butchers 
and  market-men  in  our  city.  It  is  known  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  animals  slaughtered  in  the  city  have  to  endure  for  days 
such  treatment  as  seriously  deteriorates  the  quality  and  health- 
fulness  of  their  flesh  ;  and  that  animals  variously  diseased  and  in- 
jured are  daily  crowded  upon  the  markets  of  the  city.  These  cir- 
cumstances, together  with  the  offensiveness  of  the  nuisances  that 
are  incident  to  slaughter-pens  in  the  populous  streets,  render  it 
desirable  that  there  should  be  a  thorough  reform  of  the  whole 
system  of  supplying  animal  food  for  our  shambles.*' 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the  description  or  the  remedy 
of  the  various  other  nuisances  that  endanger  the  public  health  in 
this  city.f     The  gross  filthiness  of  the  streets,  courts,  and  alleys, 

*  The  Council  of  Hygiene,  as  a  voluntary  organization,  is  not  called  upon  to  give  the 
details  relating  to  the  gross  impositions  and  the  sources  of  evil  that  are  inflicted  by  the 
existing  system  of  butcheries  and  markets,  or  rather  the  absence  of  control  of  the  sanitary 
condition  of  slaughtered  animals  and  food  articles ;  nor  is  this  the  occasion  to  describe 
and  recommend  the  specific  improvements  that  are  required.  It  is  known  that  very  im- 
portant improvements  have  been  made  in  the  methods  of  slaughter,  as  well  as  in  the 
treatment  of  butcheries,  and  all  that  pertains  thereto ;  and  it  is  well  known,  moreover, 
that  animals  variously  diseased,  and  meats  variously  injured  for  use  as  food,  are  sold  daily 
to  the  unsuspecting  multitudes  who  purchase  in  the  established  markets  of  the  city,  and  to 
still  greater  numbers  who  depend  upon  the  thousand  minor  shambles  that  are  found  in  all 
populous  districts.  Useful  information  relating  to  all  the  questions  alluded  to  in  this  note, 
may  be  gleaned  by  careful  inspection  of  the  physical  condition  of  the  animals  in  the 
slaughter-pens,  and  their  flesh  in  the  shambles ;  or  by  perusal  of  Col.  Devoe's  Market 
Book,  and  by  conversation  with  that  most  intelligent  master  of  his  trade ;  also  in  the 
Reports  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  upon  Swill  Milk,  etc. ;  the  letters  of  Prof. 
J.  S.  Gamgcc  to  Sir  George  Grey,  on  Diseased  Meals,  etc. ;  also  Prof.  Gamgee's  paper  in 
the  Fifth  Report  of  the  Medical  Officer  to  the  Privy  Council,  1863  ;  and  the  paper  by  Mr. 
Robert  Ceely,  in  the  Sixth  Report  of  the  same  officer,  18C4,  on  the  Anthrax  Fever  in  ani- 
mals used  for  food  ;  and  for  notice  of  various  improvements  in  slaughtering,  and  the 
preparation  of  meats  for  market,  the  Lectures  on  Public  Health,  by  Dr.  Mapother,  Health 
Officer  of  Dublin,  may  be  consulted. 

\  What  is  known  as  the  gas  nuisance  throughout  the  city  of  New  York,  is  caused 
mainly  by  a  defect  in  the  means  that  are  employed  in  the  purification  of  the  gas  at  the 
gas  factories.  Upon  the  causes  and  the  remedy  of  this  gross  evil,  the  Professors  of  Chem- 
istry in  this  Council  have  made  a  final  report,  explaining  the  cause3  of  the  nuisance,  and 
showing  the  feasibility  of  its  prevention. 

The  sewer-gas  nuisance,  and  the  abominable  exhalations  from  various  manufactories, 
all  admit  of  being  remedied.  There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  gaseous  emanations  from 
sewers,  privies,  decaying  garbage,  and  neglected  stables,  stagnant  water,  etc.,  are  always 
productive  of  diseases  which  arc  particularly  fatal  to  infantile  life,  and  that  all  great  cpi- 


XCvi  EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 

the  putrefying  masses  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter,  together 
with  dead  animals,  obstructed  sewerage  and  drainage,  and  poison- 
ous exhalations  from  manufactories  of  various  kinds,  combine  to 
pollute  the  atmosphere  of  the  entire  city.  Yet  all  of  these  sources  of 
insalubrity  and  increased  mortality  are  of  the  most  preventable 
character,  and  it  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of  this  Council,  that  no 
system  of  Sanitary  Government  which  fails  to  comprehend  and 
control  such  evils  can  be  adequate  to  the  demands  of  an  advancing 
civilization,  or  equal  to  the  present  wants  of  this  city. 

THE  DRAINAGE  AND  SEWERAGE  OF  THE  CITY. 

The  Citizens'  Association  has  wisely  intrusted  the  investigation 
of  questions  in  engineering  and  architecture  to  competent  and  ex- 
perienced minds  that  have  been  trained  to  such  inquiries;  conse- 
quently it  has  been  deemed  necessary  by  the  Council  of  Hygiene 
to  consider  only  the  strictly  hygienic  bearings  of  the  facts  relating 
to  the  drainage  and  sewerage  of  the  city.  All  these  points  have 
been  so  ably  presented  in  the  Reports  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors 
of  the  Third,  Fourth,  Thirteenth,  Twentieth,  Twenty-fifth, 
Twenty-eighth,  and  Twenty-ninth  Districts,  that  we  refer  to  those 
Reports  in  the  Second  Paet  of  this  volume,  for  details  relating  to 
the  subject.  The  Inspectors  have  earned  well-merited  thanks  for 
the  careful  study  they  have  given  to  the  questions  which  the  Coun- 
cil prepared  on  this  subject.  The  pernicious  influence  of  imperfect 
drainage  and  neglected  or  faulty  sewerage,  and  the  fatal  poisons 
that  are  generated  by  accumulated  sewage  and  putrefying  organic 
materials  are  no  longer  merely  matters  of  opinion,  but,  as  will  be 
noticed  upon  a  subsequent  page  of  this  Report,  they  stand  related 
as  direct  causes  of  some  of  the  most  insidious,  obstinate,  and  fatal 
diseases  that  afflict  our  city. 

The  chief  features  of  the  drainage  and  sewerage  of  this  city 
that  concern  our  sanitary  inquiries  relate,  (1)  to  the  original  confor- 
mation and  character  of  the  surface  soil  of  the  island  on  which  the 
city  is  built;  (2)  the  origin,  cause,  and  outlets  of  the  primitive 
streams  of  water ;  and,  (3)  the  obstruction  or  obliteration  of  those 
streams ;  (4)  the  plan  and  construction  of  the  sewers  with  regard 


demies  of  fevers,  cholera,  etc.,  are  localized  and  rendered  peculiarly  fatal  in  places  where 
such  nuisances  abound. 


DKAENAGE  AND  SEWEKAGE  OF  THE  CITY. 


XCV11 


to  free  and  clear  outlet,  without  nuisance ;  and  (5)  the  arrangements 
for  flushing  and  for  preventing  the  reflux  or  escape  of  sewer-gases 
in  the  streets,  and  into  dwellings  and  other  buildings;  (6)  the 
skilful  connection  of  house-drains  with  the  main  sewers ;  (7)  the 
thoroughness  of  drainage  and  sewerage  with  reference  to  the  sani- 
tary influence  of  a  dry  atmosphere.  All  these  points  have  been 
carefully  considered,  and  valuable  observations  have  been  made 
during  the  progress  of  the  sanitary  survey  and  inspections.  In 
three  of  the  badly  drained  districts,  noted  for  their  insalubrity,  a 
series  of  hygrometrical  observations  was  kept  up  during  the  warm 
season.  "With  regard  to  practical  results  from  those  observations, 
we  need  only  state  in  this  place  that  any  marked  degree  of  excess 
of  humidity  in  any  locality,  as  compared  with  the  standard  obser- 
vations at  Essex  Market,  was,  without  exception,  found  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  an  excessive  constant  sickness-rate,  and  particularly 
with  infantile  diseases,  and  all  kinds  of  contagion  and  infection. 

While  it  is  recognized  that  the  drainage  and  sewerage  of  the 
city  must  be  treated  by  skilled  engineers,  it  is  the  opinion  of  tbe 
Council  of  Hygiene  that  it  is  desirable  that  all  questions  that  are 
connected  therewith  should  be  treated  as  questions  of  '  sanitary 
engineering.'  The  Health  Towns  Commission,  the  Metropolitan 
Sanitary  Commission,  the  Poor  Law  Commission's  Sanitary  In- 
quiries, in  Great  Britain,  and  the  National  Sanitary  Convention 
at  its  session  in  Boston,  have  presented  the  subject  of  the  drainage 
and  sewerage  of  cities,  as  requiring  sanitary  treatment.  That  the 
economical  and  commercial  questions,  as  connected  with  this  sub- 
ject, should  be  subordinate  to  hygienic  requirements,  is  confessed 
by  the  ablest  and  most  recent  writers  upon  the  economic  questions 
of  sewerage.* 


*  Says  Mr.  Menzies,  in  his  admirable  Treatise  on  Drainage  and  Sewerage :  "  The  pres- 
ervation of  health  and  the  saving  of  human  life  must  be  the  first  consideration  ;  the  cost 
of  drainage,  or  of  utilizing  the  sewage,  the  second ;  "  and  he  goes  on  to  show  that  "  the  least 
outlay  will  be  incurred,  and  the  greatest  return  obtained  from  the  most  sanitary  system." 
See  Treatise  on  the  Sanitary  Management  and  Utilization  of  Sewage,  comprehending  de- 
tails, etc.,  etc.    By  Wm.  Menzies,  Deputy  Surveyor  of  Windsor  Forest,  London,  18G5. 

The  whole  subject  of  the  sanitary  and  economical  management  of  the  drainage  and 
sewerage  of  cities,  and  the  utilization  of  sewage,  is  receiving  much  practical  attention  in 
England.  Baron  Liebig  has  entered  upon  a  comprehensive  investigation  of  the  economical 
treatment  of  the  subject  in  London,  while  the  extensive  experiments  of  Alderman  Mechi 
and  Mr.  Menzies  have  shown  how  successfully  the  most  practical  economist  can  aid  in 

7 


xcviii 


EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


That  the  sewerage  and  the  natural  drainage  of  the  city  may 
be  thoroughly  perfected  appears  not  to  admit  of  a  doubt,  and 
there  is  abundant  reason  to  believe  that  there  needs  to  be  an  intel- 
ligent sanitary  inspection,  by  sanitary  engineers,  throughout  the 
the  entire  system  of  the  city  sewers,  and  that  the  original  water- 
courses should  again  be  permitted  to  have  their  deep  and  free  out- 
lets to  tide  water,  in  order  to  diminish  the  amount  of  humidity 
and  decomposition  that  results  from  the  artificial  obstruction  and 
diffusion  of  those  streams.  The  main  question,  however,  that  must 
receive  immediate  sanitary  consideration,  relates  to  the  flushing  and 
cleansing  of  sewers,  and  the  effectual  control  of  sewer-gases. 

SPECIAL  APPLICATIONS  OF  CHEMISTRY  AND  OTHER  SCIENCES  TO 
SANITARY  WORKS. 

In  various  ways,  and  at  every  stage  of  progress  in  sanitary  im- 
provements that  are  required  in  our  city,  must  the  most  skilful 
applications  of  medical  diagnosis,  chemistry,  and  sanitary  engineer- 
ing be  invoked.  The  Council  of  Hygiene  has  given  a  practical 
expression  to  this  view  by  recommending  the  maintenance  of  a 
department  of  Dwelling  Improvement,  in  which  the  skilled  en- 
gineer and  the  architect  shall  aid  in  working  out  the  most  import- 
ant sanitary  and  social  problems ;  and  by  the  union  of  two  of  the 
leading  Professors  of  Chemistry  in  the  works  of  the  Council,  the 
methods  of  such  cooperation  of  the  sciences  have  been  practically 
illustrated.  At  an  early  stage  of  the  sanitary  inspection,  it  became 
necessary  to  seek  special  advice  from  the  Chemical  branch  of  the 
Council,*  and  at  a  later  period,  a  specific  report  was  sought  and 
received  from  that  branch,  respecting  the  proper  scope  and  applica- 
tions of  chemical  inquiry  in  promoting  the  public  health  of  the 
city.  By  vote  of  the  Council,  the  report  is  here  introduced  as  a 
statement  of  views  which  should  be  presented  to  intelligent 
citizens. 


promoting  sanitary  works.  For  recent  and  very  valuable  contributions  to  the  hygienic 
treatment  of  this  subject,  we  would  refer  to  a  Report  on  Civic  Cleanliness,  made  to  the  Na- 
tional Sanitary  Convention  at  Boston,  1860,  by  E.  L.  Viel6,  Esq. ;  the  Essays  of  Rev.  II. 
Moule,  on  National  Health  and  Wealth ;  Prof.  E.  A.  Parkes'  Manual  of  Practical  Hy- 
giene, London  1864 — article,  "  Sewerage  and  Methods  of  Removing  Sewage  Matters;  "  also 
Dr.  C.  A.  Murchison's  Treatise  on  the  Continued  Fevers  of  Great  Britain,  London,  1862 
— article,  " Prophylactic  Treatment." 
•Sec  pages  312,  313,  Part  Second. 


HYGIENIC  APPLICATIONS  OP  CHEMISTRY.  Xcix 

REPORT  UPON  THE  HYGIENIC  APPLICATIONS  OF  CHEMISTRY:  BY  PROF. 
JOHN  W.  DRAPER  AND  PROF.  R.  OGDEN  DOREMUS. 

The  Committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  inquiry,  "What 
useful  and  practicahle  investigations  and  analyses  may  be  made 
respecting  the  chemical  nature  and  changes  of  the  soil  and  atmos- 
phere of  the  city,  with  reference  to  the  public  health,  and  the 
nuisance  of  insalubrious  emanations  from  gas  factories  and  the 
sewers  of  the  city,"  beg  leave  to  present  the  following  report : 

The  experience  of  large  cities  has  shown  that  systematic  hygi- 
enic investigations  must  be  directed  to  the  following  points  : 

I.  The  water,  which  is  in  general,  and  that  which  is  in  certain 
cases  in  special  use. 

II.  The  composition  of  the  air  as  regards  the  entire  locality 
under  investigation,  and  also  in  particular  localities  where  the 
population  is  dense,  the  houses  badly  constructed,  or  where  ema- 
nations from  gas  factories,  &c,  contaminate  it. 

III.  The  quality  of  the  food  articles  exposed  for  sale  in  the 
public  markets  or  stores,  as  respects  their  accidental  deteriorations 
or  purposed  adulteration. 

IY.  The  character  of  the  soil  on  which  the  city  is  built,  its 
retention  of  water,  its  chemical  composition,  the  dust  that  may 
arise  from  it,  or  the  gases  that  it  may  permit  to  escape  into  the  air. 

The  present  state  of  chemistry  is  such  that  all  these  points  may 
be  dealt  with  in  an  intelligent  manner  and  with  great  precision. 
Solutions  to  the  different  questions  that  may  be  propounded  can 
be  given,  of  so  reliable  a  character  as  to  form  a  satisfactory  basis 
for  the  hygienic  action  of  physicians  and  of  the  public  authorities. 

Indeed,  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  information  of  sufficient 
certainty  for  such  purposes  can  now  be  acquired.  Hygiene  must 
rest  on  the  basis  of  chemical  investigation. 

The  undersigned  now  propose  to  offer  a  few  remarks  on  each 
of  the  four  topics  just  designated.  These  remarks  are  necessarily 
of  a  general  kind,  and  will  be  directed  mainly  to  the  special  case 
of  the  city  of  New  York. 

I.  First,  then,  as  respects  its  water.  This  is  presented  to  us  in 
two  states :  the  general  city  supply  of  Croton-water,  and  the  special 
Bupplies  derived  from  wells  or  springs. 


c 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


The  impurities  of  the  Croton  vary  with  the  seasons  of  the  year, 
and  sometimes  rise  to  such  an  extent  as  would  excite  public  as- 
tonishment if  the  circumstances  were  generally  known.  Nothing 
need  here  be  said  respecting  the  effect  of  these  impurities  upon  the 
public  health,  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  our  city  physicians 
are  very  far  from  realizing  the  importance  of  this  state  of  things. 

The  undersigned,  therefore,  recommend  that  an  analysis  of  the 
Croton-water  should  be  made,  samples  being  taken  once  each 
week,  and  the  investigation  continued  for  one  year.  Collating  the 
important  evidence  that  would  thus  be  acquired,  the  Croton  Board 
might  be  instructed  as  to  the  measures  it  is  needful  to  take  to 
diminish  the  access  of  these  impurities,  or  perhaps  to  exclude  them 
altogether. 

In  the  next  place,  as  respects  wells  or  springs.  Since  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Croton  and  the  development  of  the  sewer  system, 
these  have  undergone  very  serious  changes.  The  water  they  yielded 
was  bad  enough  in  former  times ;  it  is  if  any  thing  worse  now.  As 
illustrations,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  twenty-five  years  ago  the 
water  which  was  furnished  by  the  pumps  in  the  vicinity  of  "Wash- 
ington Square,  though  very  clear  and  pellucid  to  the  eye,  was 
overcharged,  as  was  discovered  in  the  Laboratory  of  the  University 
of  New  York,  with  phosphate  of  lime  (bone  earth),  and  an  ex- 
tremely fetid  animal  matter.  These  impurities  were  derived  from 
the  human  remains  that  were  buried  around  in  what  was  once  the 
Potter's  Field. 

As  a  more  recent  instance,  it  has  within  a  few  days  been  ob- 
served, in  the  same  laboratory,  that  water  taken  from  a  well  in  the 
Twenty-second  "Ward,  by  one  of  the  officers  of  this  Association, 
contained  not  less  than  forty-eight  grains  of  solid  matter  in  the 
gallon,  half  of  this  being  putrid  organic  substance.  It  is  complained 
of,  that  the  neighbors  using  it  are  greatly  troubled  with  diarrhoeal 
diseases.  It  would  be  surprising  indeed  if  they  were  not.*  This 
sample  of  water  contains  ten  or  twelve  times  as  much  solid  material 
as  the  Croton-water  under  average  circumstances ;  and  so  far  sur- 
passes the  waters  used  in  the  large  towns  of  America  and  Europe 
in  its  noxious  ingredients,  that  if  it  is  any  thing  like  a  fair  sample 
of  the  well-water  of  those  districts  of  the  city,  there  can  bo  no 
doubt  that  its  use  should  be  prohibited  by  the  public  authorities, 

•  Sec  report  of  Chemical  Analysis  of  this  water,  and  an  account  of  the  diseases  arising 
therefrom,  Second  Part,  pp.  812,  313. 


HYGIENIC  APPLICATIONS  OF  CHEMISTRY. 


ci 


and  means  taken  for  the  supply  of  a  sufficiency  of  Croton  in  its 
stead. 

It  is  therefore  recommended,  that  a  general  analysis  of  such 
water  should  be  made;  one  such  analysis  in  each  instance  will 
probably  be  sufficient. 

The  water  that  has  been  used  for  cleansing  purposes  should,  by 
appropriate  means,  either  be  conserved  and  disposed  of  for  agri- 
cultural uses,  or  delivered  into  the  currents  of  the  East  and  North 
Rivers. 

During  its  passage  through  the  sewers,  noxious  gases  should 
not  be  allowed  to  escape  into  the  streets,  through  the  ventilators, 
when  they  can  be  so  readily  absorbed  by  charcoal  and  other 
absorbents ;  the  sewers,  moreover,  should  be  so  constructed  as  to 
convey  their  contents  where  they  are  sure  of  being  removed  by  the 
streams  which  ebb  and  flow  so  conveniently  on  each  side  of  our 
city,  and  not  as  at  present ;  for  the  putrescent  matter  is  now  deposit- 
ed in  the  docks,  where  pools  of  decomposing  animal  and  vegetable 
offal  are  formed,  from  which  ill-odored  and  poisonous  gases  inces- 
santly bubble  up.  Nor  should  the  outlets  of  the  sewers  be  so  ex- 
posed that  winds  can  blow  back  the  noxious  emanations. 

In  conclusion  of  this  portion  of  the  subject  it  may  be  remarked, 
that  there  has  recently  been  made  a  very  important  improvement 
in  the  operations  for  the  chemical  analysis  of  the  solid  residues  of 
water,  by  Spectkum  Analysis  as  it  is  termed. 

II.  Second,  as  respects  the  air.  In  a  general  manner  the  atmos- 
phere of  a  large  town  is  supposed  to  have  a  very  uniform  compo- 
sition. This  opinion,  which  is  commonly  entertained  by  non-medical 
writers,  has  been  sustained  by  negative  evidence  derived  from  the 
heretofore  imperfect  state  of  gas  analysis.  But  as  we  have  just 
mentioned  in  the  instance  of  water,  so  again  in  the  case  of  air, 
great  improvements  have  recently  been  made,  and  questions  can 
now  be  determined  which  it  was  impossible  to  solve  some  years 
ago.  These  improvements  indicate  that  the  air  of  large  towns  is 
very  different  in  different  localities,  not  only  in  houses  variously 
constructed,  but  in  the  open  street.  They  enable  us  to  detect  and 
to  offer  legal  evidence  of  sources  of  contamination  by  clearly 
identifying  them.  They  also,  it  is  to  be  especially  remarked, 
furnish  suggestions  respecting  the  construction  and  proper  venti- 
lation of  dwellings. 


cii 


EEPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


Tour  Committee,  therefore,  suggest  that  systematic  examinat  ion 
of  air-samples  obtained  from  localities  specially  determined  upon, 
should  be  made ;  not  concealing,  however,  that  these  "would  un- 
doubtedly prove  to  be  the  most  difficult  and  expensive  of  the 
inquiries  thus  recommended.  But  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
may  doubtless  be  considered  as  more  than  an  equivalent,  especially 
if  they  should  suggest,  as  they  very  probably  would,  means  for  the 
recognition  of  the  morbific  agents  generated  in  "  fever-nests  "  and 
improved  measures  for  their  destruction. 

III.  Third,  as  respects  food  articles  exposed  for  sale  in  the 
public  markets  or  stores. 

These,  as  is  well  known,  in  many  cases  may  undergo  sponta- 
neous deterioration,  becoming  not  only  unsuited  for  their  purpose, 
but  absolutely  poisonous.  Cases  of  this  kind  are  within  the  knowl- 
edge of  every  physician  of  experience  in  the  city. 

Again,  such  food  articles  are  not  unfrequently  nefariously 
adulterated  by  tradesmen.  A  great  deal  of  attention  has  of  late 
years  been  given  to  both  branches  of  this  subject  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  a  large  amount  of  information  acquired  both  as  respects 
the  means  to  be  resorted  to  for  the  detection  of  such  deteriorations 
and  also  their  prevention.  The  subject,  however,  necessarily 
branches  into  so  many  details  as  to  be  unsuited  for  more  particular 
consideration  here.  It  is,  therefore,  perhaps,  sufficient  to  say,  that 
the  questions  arising  in  connection  with  it  are  all  readily  dealt 
with  by  modern  methods  of  analysis  and  examination,  and  that  the 
extent  to  which  such  investigations  ought  to  go  will  be  best  de- 
termined as  the  occasion  arises. 

IV.  Fourth,  as  respects  the  soil.  There  are  many  important 
hygienic  questions  connected  herewith.  Among  these  may  be  men- 
tioned the  influence  of  dust  material,  that  in  variable  qualities  is 
always  present  in  the  air,  and  how  far  the  operation  for  its  abatement 
by  watering  the  streets  in  the  dry  season  of  the  year  is  justifiable. 
Not  without  reason  is  there  a  growing  prejudice  against  this  oper- 
ation, from  a  suspicion  that  it  is  attended  by  consequences  disadvan- 
tageous to  the  public  health.  The  settlement  of  this  question  is 
not  beyond  the  range  of  chemistry.  It  is  mainly  connected  with 
such  examinationstof  the  constitution  of  the  air  as  we  have  pre- 
viously alluded  to. 


HYGIENIC  APPLICATIONS  OF  CHEMISTRY.  C1U 

The  same  remark  of  course  applies  to  the  examination  and 
determination  of  the  aerial  and  vaporous  matters  that  are  perpetu- 
ally escaping,  even  in  the  best-paved  parts  of  the  city,  from  the 
soil.  The  production  of  these  substances  and  their  nature  are 
largely  dependent  upon  the  mechanical  condition  as  well  as  the 
chemical  composition  of  the  soil  in  which  they  are  generated.  Its 
mechanical  condition,  if  clayey  or  plastic,  may  give  rise  to  their 
retention ;  if  sandy  or  porous,  may  give  facilities  for  their  extrication. 
Its  chemical  composition  of  course  determines  what  they  are.  The 
surface-soil  or  street-dirt  necessarily  varies  very  greatly  in  the 
different  parts  of  the  town,  being  determined  in  one  place  by  the 
non-occurrence  of  sewers ;  in  another  by  the  domestic  habits  of  the 
inhabitants  as  to  cleanliness  or  the  reverse  ;  in  a  third  by  the  con- 
tinual passage  of  cattle  and  the  dropping  of  their  excrements ;  in 
still  another  by  the  prevailing  occurrence  of  certain  manufactures, 
as  of  gas,  leather,  and  the  like.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these 
very  various  modifications  of  surface-dirt  are  intimately  connected 
with  the  public  health,  and  in  the  hygienic  management  of  the  city 
are  alone  to  be  dealt  with  by  a  well-ordered  arrangement  for  clean- 
ing the  streets,  and  by  extensions  and  improvements  in  the  system 
of  sewers,  as  before  referred  to. 

Your  Committee  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  introduce 
any  detailed  or  special  remarks  as  regards  houses  or  dwellings.  It 
is  well  known  that  public  attention  elsewhere  is  strongly  directed 
to  this  point,  more  especially  with  a  view  of  contriving  better  struc- 
tures for  the  laboring  classes  and  the  poor.  It  is  very  desirable 
that  our  places  of  public  resort,  as  churches,  theatres,  court-rooms, 
&c,  should  have  such  complete  ventilation  that  each  individual 
present  in  them  should  receive  his  healthful  portion  of  pure  air, 
and  yet  without  incommoding  any  with  draughts.  It  is  evident 
that  such  improvements  will  be,  to  a  large  extent,  indicated  by  the 
solutions  that  may  be  obtained  of  the  different  questions  that  have 
been  pointed  out  in  this  report :  How  and  under  what  circum- 
stances water  should  be  furnished  ?  what  are  the  best  and  most 
available  means  of  ventilation  ?  what  are  the  most  economical  and 
effectual  methods  of  warming  ?  On  a  subsequent  occasion,  if  the  As- 
sociation should  see  fit,  we  shall  offer  some  remarks  on  these  points, 
and  therefore  shall  abstain  from  treating  further  of  them  at  present. 


civ 


KEPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


PRACTICAL  CHARACTER  OF  SANITARY  WORKS. 

Sanitary  science  is  exceedingly  practical  in  all  it  teaches  or 
suggests.  It  takes  cognizance  of  diseases,  mortality,  and  all  dan- 
gers to  health ;  and  its  inquiries  as  well  as  its  applications  descend 
directly  to  causes.  From  the  investigation  of  causes  it  brings  forth 
remedial  suggestions,  and  projects  sanitary  works. 

The  preceding  sections  of  this  Report,  together  with  the  accom- 
panying body  of  Evidence,  relate  exclusively  to  practical  questions, 
and  the  facts  thus  collated  show  at  once  the  necessity  and  the 
nature  of  the  sanitary  works  which  the  public  health  of  the  city  re- 
quires. The  preliminary  studies  and  experience,  the  patient  re- 
search into  the  nature  and  origin  of  diseases,  and  the  practical  dis- 
crimination of  their  causes,  particularly  of  those  that  are  prevent- 
able, and  the  suggestion  of  needed  remedies  or  preventives,  have 
justly  been  demanded  of  the  medical  profession.  Chemistry  offers 
its  marvellous  resources,  while  sanitary  engineering,  and  all  the 
improvements  and  means  of  the  mechanical  arts,  are  able  in  various 
ways  to  promote  the  practical  works  that  are  needed  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  public  health.  However  varied  and  important  may 
be  the  resources  of  sanitary  science,  and  the  arts  which  it  subordi- 
nates to  its  service,  the  laws  of  health  are  so  exceedingly  simple 
that  their  applications  and  results  are  neither  difficult  nor  of 
doubtful  utility.  Pure  air,  suitable  food,  sunlight,  and  clothing 
for  the  body  ;  and  such  peace  and  hope  as  give  mental  repose  to 
the  mind,  as  well  as  buoyancy  to  daily  life,  constitute  the  element- 
ary conditions  of  sanitary  welfare.  Health  is  a  boon,  however, 
that  must  be  sought  and  protected,  especially  in  civic  life,  or  it 
is  soon  alienated.  So  definite  are  the  conditions  upon  which  it 
depends,  says  one  of  the  ablest  teachers  of  hygiene,  that  "  it  is  un- 
doubtedly true  that  we  can,  even  now,  literally  choose  between 
health  or  disease ;  not  perhaps  always  individually,  for  the  chains 
of  our  civilization  and  social  customs  may  gall  us,  or  even  our  fel- 
low men  may  deny  us  health,  or  the  knowledge  which  leads  to 
health.  But  as  a  race,  man  holds  his  own  destiny,  and  can  choose 
between  good  and  evil."  * 

To  supply  an  abundance  of  fresh  air  in  all  classes  of  habitations ; 
to  guard  against  the  causes  of  deterioration  or  injury  of  food  arti- 


•  Prof.  E.  A.  Parkes,  Manual  of  Jlyyiene,  p.  xvii. 


PREVALENT  DISEASES. 


CT 


cles ;  to  shut  up,  by  sanitary  regulation,  all  cellars  and  unsunlighted 
dwellings,  and  to  restrain  the  infections  of  fever  and  its  needless 
causes  of  wasted  energies  and  blighting  discontent  and  unhappiness 
in  the  poor  man's  home,  are  simple  and  most  practical  problems, 
and  it  is  plain  that  the  physical  agencies  for  accomplishing  such 
beneficent  works  are  entirely  within  the  reach  of  enlightened 
citizens.    These  are  Sanitary  "Works. 

PREVALENT  DISEASES  WHICH  ILLUSTRATE  THE  NECESSITY  OF  SANITARY 

WORKS. 

Fever. — Two  thousand  and  eighty-three  persons  died  of  fever  in 
this  city  during  the  year  1863.  Nine  hundred  and  three  of  these 
deaths  were  caused  by  scarlet  fever,  a  disease  that  is  fearfully  fatal 
in  unventilated  and  crowded  dwellings;  eighty-three  were  from 
puerperal  disease,  and  all  the  remainder,  excepting  two  cases,  were 
from  typhus,  typhoid,  and  malarial  fever  poisons,  all  of  which  were 
preventable.  The  nine  hundred  and  fifty  deaths  from  typhus  and 
typhoid  fevers  that  year  represented,  probably,  more  than  twelve 
thousand  cases  of  that  most  preventable  type  of  disease.  During 
the  year  1864,  it  is  known  that  fevers  were  still  more  prevalent. 
The  Sanitary  Inspectors  during  the  summer  and  autumn  studied 
the  local  history  of  npward  of  sixteen  hundred  cases  of  typhus, 
with  reference  to  the  localizing  causes  that  existed  in  particular 
places.  We  refer  to  the  Inspectors'  Reports  for  their  description 
of  the  fever-nests  of  the  city,  as  seen  and  canvassed  by  them. 

Some  details  upon  this  subject  were  presented  in  preceding 
pages,  and  we  will  here  add  the  following  extracts  from  reports 
received  from  the  Inspectors  since  those  pages  were  written.  The 
Sanitary  Inspector  of  the  Sixth  District  submits  the  records  and 
statistics  of  156  houses  and  premises  which  at  the  time  of  his  last 
visit  to  them  "  were  in  a  condition  so  filthy  and  neglected  as  to  be 
unsafe  to  the  people  residing  therein,  and  which  during  the  past 
few  months  have  been  visited  by  typhus,  small-pox,  and  other 
pestilential  diseases."  The  following  examples  of  those  fever- 
stricken  dwellings  illustrate  the  prevailing  characteristics  of  all : 
"  At  No.  —  Mulberry  Street,  there  are  28  families  and  135  persons  in 
the  premises,  front  and  rear — a  lot  25  feet  by  less  than  100  feet. 
During  the  past  two  months  14  cases  of  typhus  fever  have  occurred  in 
these  families,  and  that  during  the  past  six  months  7  persons  have 
died  there.    Further,  that  fevers  and  other  preventable  diseases 


cvi 


EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


have  prevailed  there  almost  continually  during  the  past  two  years ; 
the  alley,  passages,  privies,  cellars,  and  surroundings  of  those 
houses  are  and  have  been  very  filthy ;  the  gutters  and  street,  in 
front  of  the  houses,  obstructed  by  piles  of  filth  and  garbage,  and  that 
the  causes  which  render  the  premises  insalubrious,  are  of  an  en- 
tirely removable  and  preventable  character.  No  means  have  been 
employed  by  the  municipal  government  to  prevent  or  dimmish  the 
prevalence  of  fever  in  the  houses  here  described."  The  following 
figures  show  the  rate  of  packing  in  that  tenant-house :  Pro  rata  of 
area  upon  the  entire  house-lot  to  each  inhabitant,  16f  square  feet ; 
allotment  of  air-space  to  each  person  in  the  family  or  living- 
rooms,  220  cubic  feet ;  allotment  to  each  person  in  bed-rooms,  161 
cubic  feet.  And  further,  the  rear-house  is  built  back-to-back 
against  another  rookery  in  the  rear  of  Baxter  Street,  thus  com- 
pletely obstructing  external  ventilation.  Typhus  has  prevailed  in 
the  adjacent  tenant-houses  throughout  the  year. 

The  Sanitary  Inspector  of  the  Fourteenth  District  (eastern  half 
of  Seventeenth  "Ward)  submits  a  record  of  49  places  where  typhus 
prevails,  or  has  recently  occurred  in  his  district,  under  circum- 
stances similar  to  the  causes  that  localized  the  same  fever  in  the 
places  just  described  in  the  Sixth  District;  and  from  the  Fif- 
teenth District  the  following  condensed  report  of  three  fever-nests 
is  submitted: 


CO 

9 

>  m 

V 

3 

o 

8 
a 
o 

a  a 
fi^ 
a 

ffl 

« 

H 

if 

a  a 
o 

2  9 

© 

■3 

-~  o 

— 

a 

a 

-an 

last 

Dei 
last 

Familiei 

to 

a 

o 
S 
* 

).  of  Childi 
lied  during 

A 

No.  of 

o 

& 

•gap 

to 

H 

8 

40 

8 

4 

e 

18 

1 

3 

18 

81 

2 

T 

°^ 

to  a 

ll 

E-i 


1* 

3  A. 

o 

■~  c 

c  — 

Is 

£ 


a 

i 

3  a 
a  o 

i  a 
fa 

3  o 

It 
Ja  p. 


Kornarks. 


No.  —  East  10th  rear,  4  stories. 
No.  —  East  11th  rear,  3  stories. 
No.  —  East  4th   front  and  nor. 


10 
6 
2T 


1  in  I 


I  in  24 


1  in  8 


1  in  10 


1  In  8 


1  in  111 


1  Overcrowded,  un- 
Vventtlated,  privies 
1  &  court  very  filthy. 
)  Here  are  4  cases  of 
>  typhus,  &  1  of  - 1 1 i.i  11 

1  ll.  >v  are  8  csbcs 
Vof  typhus,  and  '1  of 
)  Bmall-pox.  


Facts  like  the  foregoing  are  reported  from  all  the  fever-nests 
that  afflict  our  city ;  and  in  the  minutely  detailed  reports  *  which 
the  Sanitary  Inspectors  have  made  respecting  them,  there  ia  con- 

•  For  abstract  of  the  form  of  reports,  see  pp.  xxvii-xxx. 


PREVALENT  DISEASES. 


cvii 


stant  and  direct  testimony  confirming  the  following  points:  (1) 
that  in  many  of  the  tenant-houses  of  the  city  there  exist  such 
excessive  overcrowding,  uncleanness,  and  utter  want  of  ventilation, 
that  typhus  is  liable  to  occur  at  any  time ;  and  when  once  infected 
with  the  virus  of  that  fever,  such  houses  will  become  sources  of 
domestic  pestilence  and  of  danger  to  the  public  health ;  (2)  that 
the  number  of  localities  which  are  already  infected  with  the  fever- 
poison  (including  both  typhus  and  typhoid  fever)  in  this  city,  is 
believed  to  be  not  less  than  five  hundred*  and  (3)  that  the  total 
number  of  insalubrious  quarters  which  are  particularly  liable  to  an 
outbreak  or  endemic  of  fever,  is  not  less  than  about  one-fifth  the  to- 
tal number  of  tenant-houses  and  inhabited  cellars,  or  not  less  than 
three  thousand  houses  and  places  ;  (4)  lastly,  that  the  causes  which 
have  localized  fever  in  five  hundred  different  places  in  this  city,  and 
which  threaten  its  outbreak  in  thousands  of  other  localities  in  the 
various  wards,  can  be  removed  and  prevented  only  by  thorough 
ventilation  of  the  houses  in  which  the  fever  exists  or  is  threatened, 
by  cleansing  and  purifying,  by  thinning  out  the  badly  overcrowded 
buildings,  and  by  the  perpetual  vigilance  of  an  intelligently  directed 
Sanitary  Police.  Such  are  the  works  that  Sanitary  Science  pro- 
poses for  the  immediate  remedy  and  prevention  of  the  typhus 
plague  that  has  again  deeply  rooted  itself  in  our  city.f 

*  The  total  number  of  patients  with  typhus  and  typhoid  fevers  admitted  to  Bellevue 
Hospital,  and  the  Fever-Tents  on  Blackwell's  Island,  during  the  year  1864,  was  1,209. 

The  total  number  of  patients  with  the  same  fevers  admitted  to  the  hospitals  of  the 
Commissioners  of  Emigration  during  the  year,  was  1,130. 

The  total  number  of  deaths  from  these  fevers  in  the  city,  including  those  in  the  hospi- 
tals, during  the  year  1863,  was  951. 

\  At  a  recent  opening  of  one  of  the  improved  tenant-houses  in  London  (a  copy  of 
the  plan  and  description  of  which  we  have  presented  upon  pages  86  and  87),  the  distin- 
guished sanitarian,  Edwin  Chadwick,  Esq.,  after  inspecting  its  arrangements  for  ventila- 
tion, cleanliness,  etc.,  declared  it  to  be  "  fever-proof."  The  following  extract  from  the  re- 
port of  an  inspection  of  the  tenant-houses  erected  and  improved  by  the  Society  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the  Laboring  Classes,  by  Lord  Shaftsbury  and  other  gentlemen, 
shows  it  is  possible  to  render  the  homes  of  the  poor  secure  from  fever  infection.  Tho 
report  states  that  "  in  the  model-houses  in  Streatham  Street,  Bloomsbury,  the  rooms  were 
found  fully  occupied,"  and  "  the  general  health  of  the  forty-eight  families  living  in  them, 
excellent."  "  In  the  number  of  years  during  which  this  establishment  has  been  open, 
terrible  fevers,  that  from  time  to  time  rage  around,  have  been  unknown.  The  very  small 
number  of  deaths,  of  even  young  children,  is  remarkable,  and  shows,  in  comparison  with 
other  places,  the  extent  to  which  human  life  might  be  saved,  not  only  in  the  metropolis, 
but  also  in  other  large  towns. 

"  The  inspections  were  extended  through  numerous  other  buildings  of  the  society, 


cviii 


EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


Diaeehceax  Maladies. — This  class  of  diseases,  including  chol- 
era infantum,  cholera,  and  dysentery,  as  well  as  ordinary  diar- 
rhoeas in  this  city,  and  in  all  large  towns,  is  justly  regarded  as  heing 
almost  wholly  the  result  of  preventable  causes.  The  total  number 
of  deaths  from  these  maladies  alone  during  the  year  1863,  was 
2,665,  or  10.57  per  cent,  of  the  total  mortality  of  the  city  for  that 
year ;  and  during  the  ten  years  ending  in  1859,  the  total  number 
of  deaths  from  these  maladies  in  the  city  was  34,957.  These  sta- 
tistical facts  show  what  an  important  class  of  diseases  this  is. 

Now  upon  perusal  of  the  Inspectors'  Reports  herewith  submit- 
ted, some  of  the  active  causes  of  these  troublesome  maladies  of  the 
bowels  will  be  found  well  described.  For  example,  the  Inspector 
of  the  Eleventh  District  found  three  severe  cases  of  dysentery  in  a 
single  house  on  the  corner  of  Gansevoort  and  West  Streets ;  and 
in  the  same  neighborhood,  in  a  single  sparsely-populated  square, 
between  Gansevoort  and  Horatio  Streets,  he  found  twenty-nine 
cases  of  dysentery  occurring  within  a  period  of  twenty-one  days.* 
In  this  instance  the  cause  of  the  malady  then  prevailing,  as  well 
as  of  enteric  fever  that  had  previously  swept  over  the  same  locality, 
was  found  to  be  simply  the  uncovered  sewer,  and  the  obstructed 
and  noisome  sewage  of  Gansevoort  Street,  between  West  Street 
and  the  river.  Again,  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  adjacent  to 
the  Central  Park,  we  have  the  preventable  causes,  and  local  history 
of  the  diarrhoeal  maladies  lucidly  explained.f  Stagnant  water, 
obstructed  drainage,  putrefying  garbage,  decomposing  animal  mat- 
ters, putrid  exhalations  from  various  sources,  deteriorated  food 
articles,  and  the  use  of  water  from  wells  into  which  the  putrid 
soakage  of  filth  had  percolated,  are  clearly  proven  to  be  the  causes 
of  the  diarrhoeal  diseases  of  that  district.    Each  of  the  thirty-one 


both  for  families  and  single  men,  the  facts  learned  being  generally  of  the  same  satisfac- 
tory character." 

In  a  report  made  at  a  recent  meeting,  it  was  stated  that  the  whole  population  of  this 
property  of  the  society  amounts  to  2,186,  and  in  this  number,  45  deaths  have  occurred 
during  the  year.  This  is  at  the  rate  of  20i  in  each  1,000,  and  the  report  states  that  this 
"  is  rather  in  excess  of  what  might  have  been  expected,  but  still  a  great  improvement  on 
the  result  in  all  London." 

*  See  page  119,  Second  Part. 

f  Sec  Second  Paiit,  pages  312-322. 

The  importance  of  providing  by  law  for  the  water-supply  needed  by  the  inhabitants 
of  poor  tenements  that  are  not  yet  furnished  with  the  Croton,  is  strikingly  set  forth  in  the 


PREVALENT  DISEASES. 


cix 


Sanitary  Inspectors  lias  from  week  to  week  brought  forward,  in 
carefully-detailed  reports,  the  same  essential  facts  regarding  the 
causes  and  the  localization  of  the  various  diarrhoeal  maladies.  The 
causes  which  have  thus  been  reported,  are  of  the  most  preventable 
nature ;  and  in  the  opinion  of  this  Council,  the  duty  of  speedily 
removing  or  controlling  such  needless  sources  of  peril  to  an  unsus- 
pecting population,  is  plainly  incumbent  upon  the  government, 
and  upon  the  intelligent  classes  who  can  direct  the  measures  re- 
quired for  the  public  welfare. 

~Rot  the  poor  classes  alone  suffer  the  fatal  consequences  of  public 
neglect  of  the  removable  causes  of  this  important  class  of  maladies. 
The  epidemic  that  swept  over  the  vicinity  of  the  royal  court  in 
Windsor,  in  1858,  painfully  demonstrated  that  a  Prince  Consort, 
and  the  humblest  tenant  in  the  same  region  of  putrid  sewage, 
must  fall  victims  to  the  same  local  poison  that  insidiously  filled  the 
atmosphere.*    The  death  of  many  valued  citizens,  and  the  fatal 


report  of  this  district.  The  water  of  another  of  the  sparkling  wells  in  a  crowded  tenant 
neighborhood,  near  the  Central  Park,  has  just  been  analyzed  for  the  Council  of  Hygiene, 
by  Prof.  Draper,  with  the  following  results  : 

Organic  Matter  and  Volatile  Salts,  per  gallon,  lOyfto  grains. 

|  Phosphate  of  Lime,  Carbonate  of  Lime, .  .  .*.  ) 
Fixed  Salts  -j  Sulphate  of  Lime,  Sulphate  of  Soda,  V  14f0%  " 

(  Chloride  of  Sodium  ) 

Total  solid  residue,  per  gallon  " 

In  all  of  the  numerous  families  that  make  use  of  the  water  from  this  well,  obstinate 
and  fatal  diarrhoeal  maladies  prevail  throughout  the  year.  Is  it  not  plainly  the  duty  of 
the  health  authorities  to  know  such  facts,  and  shall  the  city,  through  the  ignorance  of 
officials,  neglect  to  provide  Croton-water  for  the  poor  ? 

*  For  some  account  of  that  epidemic,  see  Dr.  Simon's  Reports  to  the  Privy  Council, 
1858-'59-'60 ;  and  Dr.  Murchison  on  Enteric  Fever,  pages  444-446. 

In  the  Report  of  the  Privy  Council  (England),  for  1858,  is  an  interesting  paper  from 
Dr.  Greenhow,  on  the  "  Diarrhoea  Districts "  of  England.  Dr.  Greenhow  was  commis- 
sioned in  the  previous  year  to  inquire  into  their  sanitary  condition.  The  towns  selected 
were,  Coventry,  Manchester,  Salford,  Nottingham,  Birmingham,  Dudley,  Leeds,  Wolver- 
hampton, and  Merthyr  Tydfil.  In  all  of  these,  Dr.  Greenhow  found  diarrhoea  coincident 
with  one  or  other  of  these  two  circumstances — the  habitual  drinking  of  impure  water,  or 
the  tainting  of  the  atmosphere  with  the  products  of  organic  decomposition,  especially  of 
human  refuse.  In  other  words,  in  districts  which  show  a  high  diarrhoeal  death-rate,  the 
inhabitants  either  breathe  or  drink  a  large  amount  of  putrefying  animal  refuse.  He  traces 
street  by  street,  showing  how  diarrhoea,  visiting  cleanly  districts  but  slightly,  is  especially 
grouped  around  those  spots  where  there  is  an  accumulation  of  night  soil  infecting  the  air 
in  the  midst  of  a  dense  population,  or  so  placed  that  the  exhalations  penetrate  into  tho 
houses,  or  can  be  but  slowly  dispersed  into  the  general  atmosphere.  The  comparative 
immunity  of  other  districts  resembling  these  in  all  respects  save  this  fascal  impurity,  is 


cx 


KEPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


prevalence  of  diarrhoeal  and  enteric  diseases  in  many  of  the 
wealthiest  streets  of  New  York,  might  justly  awaken  a  demand  for 
the  most  comprehensive  sanitary  inquiry  respecting  the  sewerage, 
and  the  special  nuisances  of  the  city. 

Small-Pox. — This  is  at  once  the  most  preventable  and  the 
most  virulently  contagious  of  all  diseases.  It  is  the  worst  type  of 
a  domestic  and  public  pestilence,  and  for  many  years  past  it  has 
been  constantly  prevalent  in  various  portions  of  this  city.  In  a 
previous  section  of  this  report  we  have  shown  by  what  agencies 
this  disease  is  perpetuated  and  diffused  in  the  city ;  *  it  should  now 
be  fully  understood  that  the  personal  perils  and  the  public  evils 
which  result  from  the  official  neglect  of  this  disease  and  its  grand 
preventive,  have  reached  a  point  that  is  unequalled  in  any  other 
city  in  the  civilized  world.  Yet  it  is  conceded  that  by  means  of 
effectual  vaccination,  and  by  proper  isolation  and  disinfection  of  all 
existing  sources  of  the  malady,  small-pox  would  become  extinct. 
In  several  Continental  countries  that  loathsome  contagion  has  long 
been  kept  almost  extinguished  by  means  of  vaccination  alone,  not- 
withstanding its  occasional  introduction  by  immigrants  and  visit- 
ors. For  example,  in  Denmark,  Sweden,  Hanover,  and  some 
other  States  where  vaccination  has  been  efficiently  enforced,  there 
has  been  for  many  years  such  immunity  from  small-pox,  that 
in  1,000  deaths  from  all  diseases,  there  have  been  but  2  or  3  from 
that  malady;  in  Hanover,  at  one  period,  but  1  case  in  5,728;  and 
in  a  district  of  Wales,  with  a  population  of  11,000,  in  which 
thorough  vaccination  had  been  effected  by  house  to  house  visita- 
tion, there  occurred  but  one  death  from  small-pox  during  a  period 
of  five  years,  f  Not  a  death  from  small-pox  occurred  in  the  duchy 
of  Baden  during  a  period  of  five  years,  and  in  Copenhagen  there 
was  not  a  death  from  it  in  thirteen  consecutive  years. 

In  the  United  States  the  first  vaccination  was  performed  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  in  the  year  1799,  by  Dr.  Valentine  Seaman. 
The  State  of  Massachusetts  soon  enacted  laws  to  provide  for  tho 
superintendence  of  vaccination  in  every  town,  and  for  the  proper 

found  to  be  so  constant,  that  it  seems  impossible  not  to  admit  the  relationship  as  one  of 
cause  and  effect ;  and  medical  men  affirm  that  the  disease  is  not  only  more  prevalent,  but 
more  unmanageable  in  the  ill-conditioned  places. 
•  See  pages  liv.,  lv.,  lviii.,  and  lix. 

\  Sec  Report  of  the  Epidemiological  Society,  on  Small-poz  and  Vaccination.  Published 
by  I'arliamcnt,  1853. 


PREVALENT  DISEASES. 


cxi 


isolation  and  care  of  small-pox.  The  results  of  that  excellent  sani- 
tary law  are  instructive.  In  Boston  there  occurred  but  37  deaths 
frorn  small-pox  during  a  period  of  thirty  years  ending  1837.  That 
law  was  repealed  1836,  and  during  the  twelve  and  a  half  years 
ending  July  1850,  there  were  679  deaths  from  small-pox  in  the 
same  city.*  In  the  cities  of  Baltimore  and  Providence  an  effect- 
ive system  of  house  to  house  inquiry  and  vaccination,  and  a  gen- 
eral sanitary  supervision  by  medical  authorities,  for  many  years 
purchased  almost  complete  exemption,  of  the  resident  population, 
from  small-pox.  In  the  latter  city  there  were  but  19  deaths  from  tins 
malady  in  a  period  of  five  years,  though  more  than  that  number 
of  persons  sick  with  the  disease  arrived  from  other  cities,  and  tar- 
ried there  in  that  period;  and  during  more  than  half  that  time, 
viz.,  for  two.  years  and  eight  months,  there  was  not  a  death  from 
it.f  In  the  city  of  New  York,  during  the  sixty  years  ending 
January  1,  1864,  there  were  12,040  deaths  from  small-pox;  and 
during  the  last  sixteen  years  of  that  period,  6,107  persons  died  of 
this  malady;  while  during  the  first  sixteen  years  of  the  whole 
period,  with  an  average  population  greater  than  one-seventh  the 
average  of  the  last  sixteen  years,  there  were  but  689  deaths  from 
the  same  cause. 

From  these  facts  it  plainly  appears,  on  the  one  hand,  that  any 
city  or  community  may  easily  secure  an  exemption  from  small- 
pox, and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  in  our  own  city  this  loathsome 
contagion  has  increased  its  ravages.  For  a  long  time  past  the 
weekly  mortality  from  this  disease  has  ranged  from  25  to  40  deaths. 
By  referring  to  the  Beports  of  the  Sanitary  Inspectors,  it  is  found 
that  a  criminal  negligence  of  this  dreadful  contagion  exists  through- 
out the  city4  Facts  like  the  following  are  continually  brought  to 
light  by  the  Inspectors :  (a)  No.  —  West  27th  Street;  3  cases  ;  the 
clothing  of  the  first  patient  was  carelessly  left  in  the  common  hall  of 
the  tenant-house ;  (b)  No.  —  33d  Street ;  child  with  confluent  erup- 
tion ;  in  room  adjacent  to  the  candy  and  cigar  store,  kept  by 
mother  ;  (c)  No.  —  6th  Avenue ;  fancy  store  on  the  first  floor,  and 
dentist's  rooms  on  floor  above ;  patient  not  removed ;  {d)  Nos.  — 


*  See  Report  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  of  Massachusetts,  1850 ;  also  a  Paper  by 
Dr.  Robert  Ware. 

\  See  Vital  Statistics  of  Providence,  Dr.  Snow's  Reports  for  18C8  and  1860. 
%  Sec  the  Form  of  Inquiry  and  Inspection,  pages  xxiiv.,  xxxv. 


cxii 


EEPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


3d  Street ;  9  cases ;  shirt-making  carried  on  in  one  of  the  families, 
and  no  precautions  used ;  the  infected  clothing  of  all  the  patients 
was  hung  out  in  the  open  yard;  (e)  No.  —  "Willett  Street,  and  No. 
—  Columbia  Street — a  grocery;  3  cases  of  small-pox  in  each 
house,  and  business  continued  without  precautions;  (f)  Nos.  — 
Park  Street,  11  cases  in  families  and  rooms  in  which  clothing  is 
in  process  of  manufacture  for  stores  in  Fulton  Street ;  no  precau- 
tions ;  (g)  No.  —  Pell  Street ;  5  cases  in  families,  and  rooms  where 
clothing  was  being  made  up  for  wholesale  stores ;  no  precautions ; 
(h)  No.  —  Jane  Street ;  patient  died  of  small-pox,  the  infected 
clothing  was  sold  to  an  old  clo'  man;  (i)  No.  —  Avenue  — ; 
3  patients  in  room  adjacent  to  the  mother's  store,  where  daily 
papers  and  trinkets  are  sold,  her  business  continued,  and  all  custom- 
ers exposed  to  the  contagion ;  (J)  No.  —  Bivington  Street ;  a  child 
covered  with  small-pox  was  lying  on  the  tailor's  board  with  the 
new  clothing  that  the  father  was  making  up  for  a  Broadway  store ; 
(k)  No.  —  17th  Street,  near  Stuyvesant  Square ;  3  cases ;  their 
clothing  given  to  a  person  who  took  it  into  a  country  town, 
saying  she  was  '  not  afraid ' ;  (I)  No.  —  Laurens  Street ;  4  cases  in 
one  domicile,  and  1  in  another ;  the  latter  is  sick  in  a  bed-room 
adjacent  to  his  store ;  the  wife  alternately  attends  to  husband  and  to 
store  customers.  Thus  reads  the  record  of  hundreds  of  cases  of 
this  terrible  disease  visited  by  our  Sanitary  Inspectors;  and  yet 
with  such  gross  ignorance  and  recklessness  prevailing  among  the 
poor  in  every  section  of  the  city,  and  with  a  strange  and  criminal 
indifference  of  a  great  portion  of  the  entire  community,  no  effect- 
ual measures  have  yet  been  officially  adopted  to  control  the  spread 
of  this  most  loathsome  pestilence.* 

These  illustrations,  drawn  from  the  most  recent  and  trust- 
worthy observations,  are  sufficiently  abundant  and  definite  to  show 
that  the  works  which  are  required  for  the  sanitary  improvement  of 
our  city  are  of  the  most  practical  character.  Neither  the  problems 
and  works  of  the  civil  engineer,  the  daily  transactions  of  commerce, 

•  A  faithful  superintendent  of  public  health  expresses  the  views  of  the  mcdicul  pro- 
fession on  this  subject  in  the  following  language :  "  The  extensive  prevalence,  or  long- 
continued  existence  of  small-pox  in  any  civilized  community,  is  a  deep  disgrace  to  that 
community.  It  is  a  disgrace  to  the  authorities,  if  they  do  not  apply  the  preventive  to  the 
fullest  extent  possible  ;  it  is  a  disgrace  to  tho  people,  if  they  do  not  avail  themselves  of 
the  certain  preventive  which  is  offered."  Rej)ort  on  Small-pox  in  the  city  of  JYovidence, 
1859.    By  Dr.  E.  M.  Snow,  Superintendent  of  Health. 


EXAMPLES  OF  SANITARY  WORKS  AND  RESULTS.  CXl'ii 

4 

nor  the  never-faltering  labors  of  the  husbandman,  are  more  practical 
in  their  plans,  or  more  certain  in  their  results,  than  are  the  prob- 
lems and  works  which  Sanitary  Science  proposes.  None  of 
these  are  in  the  least  hypothetical  or  conjectural,  nor  can  the  works 
of  sanitary  improvement  be  wrought  out  by  any  theoretical  ar- 
rangements in  social  economy,  or  by  the  dead  letter  of  mere  statu- 
tory enactments.  Patent  and  intelligent  labor,  definite  aims,  exact 
statistics,  a  wise  combination  of  agencies,  the  cooperation  of 
various  departments  of  knowledge  and  special  skill,  are  to  be  invoked 
and  made  effective  in  the  prosecution  of  the  various  works  of  sani- 
tary improvement ;  and  whenever  the  citizens  of  New  York  enter 
upon  the  works  of  sanitary  reform  that  are  needed  in  this  city,  the 
results  will  be  not  less  definite  and  satisfactory,  than  those  which 
follow  their  best  conducted  enterprises  of  commerce,  manufacture, 
or  material  improvements  of  any  kind. 

EXAMPLES  OF  SANITARY  WORKS  AND  RESULTS. 

It  is  a  humiliating  fact  that  no  complete  examples  of  sanitary 
renovation  can  be  found  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  "  Five 
Points"  is  still  full  of  perpetual  fever-nests,  and  it  is  the  breeding- 
place  of  epidemic  diseases.  Yet  the  House  of  Industry,  with 
its  cleanly  school-rooms  and  sunlighted  dormitories  for  200  redeemed 
children,  has  driven  the  demon  of  fever  from  the  grim  hiding- 
places  of  woe  in  "  Cow  Bay,"  and  a  Mission  House,  occupying  the 
place  of  the  infamous  "  Old  Brewery,"  has  nearly  terminated  the 
sway  of  pestilence  and  beastliness  in  another  dismal  quarter.  In- 
dividual enterprise  and  intelligence  have  developed  a  few  examples 
of  comfortable  and  decent  tenant-houses :  the  "  working-man's 
home  "  in  Elizabeth  Street,  and  a  few  respectable  cottages  for  the 
laboring  classes  in  the  Yorkville  and  Harlem  district,  have  given  the 
best  of  sanitary  results.  But  not  a  district  nor  a  street  has  been  re- 
deemed from  its  filthiness  and  its  endemic  diseases.  It  is  true  that 
many  sections  present  a  new  and  more  agreeable  aspect  than  for- 
merly, and  particular  blocks  are  entirely  transformed,  but  there  is 
no  thorough  reform.  Nuisances  of  every  kind  are  allowed  to  en- 
croach upon  the  most  select  neighborhoods,  new  squares  along 
the  avenues  and  streets  by  the  water-sides  are  being  crowded  pro- 
miscuously by  lofty  tenant-houses  and  abominable  nuisances ;  and 
8 


Cxiv  REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 

even  the  populated  district  about  the  Central  Park,*  and  the  poor 
quarters  of  Manhattanville,  are  regions  of  endemic  diseases  and 
perpetual  offences  against  health. 

In  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and  New  Orleans  we  have  witnessed 
definite  results  which  show  very  clearly  the  economical  and  moral 
value  of  certain  general  measures  of  sanitary  reform.  In  the  city 
last  named  the  strong  arm  of  a  sanitary  police,  enforced  by  mili- 
tary authority,  has  for  nearly  three  years  rendered  that  once  un- 
healthy place  at  once  the  most  cleanly,  and  one  of  the  most  salu- 
brious ports  on  the  continent.  But  we  must  find  in  the  great  cities 
of  Europe  the  parallels  of  crowding  and  of  sanitary  necessities 
that  exist  in  New  York ;  and  fortunately  we  find  in  some  of  those 
cities  the  great  problems  of  sanitary  improvement  satisfactorily 
solved.  The  limits  of  this  Report  allow  us  but  to  allude  to  them. 
Let  us  first  look  at  a  general  result  of  the  comprehensive  but  yet 
imperfect  measures  of  sanitary  improvement  in  the  cities  and  towns 
of  England. 

In  the  24th  Annual  Report  of  the  Registrar-General  of  Eng- 
land (1803),  the  following  significant  statement  is  made :  "  In  10 
years,  1840-'9,  the  mean  rate  of  mortality  in  London  was  2.51  per 
cent. ;  in  the  subsequent  decennium,  lS50-'9,  it  fell  to  2.36  per 
cent.  It  is  still  more  satisfactory  to  observe  that  the  rate  of  mor- 
tality in  each  of  the  last  three  years,  1859-'61,  has  been  less  than  the 
lower  of  the  two  rates  just  mentioned.  In  I860  the  rate  was  2.26  ; 
in  1861  it  was  2.32.  If  the  mortality  of  London  were  confined 
permanently  within  the  mean  rate  of  the  last  3  years,  the  effect  of 
that  reduction,  in  the  population  as  it  exists  at  present,  would  be 
that  more  than  4,000  persons  would  survive  annually,  whose  lives 
would  drop  under  the  mean  rate  derived  from  the  20  years, 
1840-'59.  .  .  .  But  a  higher  standard  of  health  than  any 
which  the  present  tables  show  is  possible,  and,  it  is  hoped,  will  be 
attained." 

This  life-saving  has  been  attained  by  the  most  practical  and 
faithful  labors ;  f  definite  ends  were  sought,  and  positive  results 

*  Sec  Reports  of  Sanitary  Inspectors,  Twenty-fifth  and  Twenty-eighth  Districts,  Sec- 
ond Part. 

f  The  practical  working  and  current  results  of  the  Metropolitan  Sanitary  System  of 
London  is  instructively  stated  as  follows  in  a  paper  entitled  Ttie  Work  of  the  Metropoli- 
tan Medical  Officers  of  Health,  Vicir  Success  and  their  Difficidtiei  f  by  Edward  Ballard, 


EXAMPLES  OF  SANITARY  WORKS  AND  RESULTS. 


CXV 


have  been  attained.  Testimony  upon  this  subject  is  abundant  and 
convincing.  In  an  address  before  the  Social  Science  Association 
of  England,  1860,  Mr.  Edwin  Cbadwick  made  these  very  import- 
ant statements :  "  In  old  dwelHngs  the  death-rate  has  been  re- 

M.  D.,  Medical  Officer  of  Health,  and  Food  Analyst  for  Islington,  etc.  It  illustrates  the 
working  of  sanitary  measures  in  London. 

Dr.  Ballard  states  that  the  medical  officers  of  London  receive  weekly  from  the  Regis- 
trar-General schedules  of  births  and  deaths  in  their  respeetive  districts.  To  inform  them- 
selves of  the  presence  and  locality  of  sickness,  they  also  have  recourse  to  the  admission- 
books  of  hospitals  and  dispensaries,  and  the  books  of  the  medical  officers  of  work-houses, 
etc.  In  addition  to  this,  they  endeavor  to  keep  informed  of  the  state  of  health  of  the 
better  classes  through  the  medium  of  the  neighboring  practitioners.   Dr.  Ballard  says : 

"  On  receiving  the  mortuary  schedules,  I  make  out  from  them  a  list  of  the  houses 
where  zymotic  diseases  of  an  epidemic  character  have  occurred,  and  these  houses  are  vis- 
ited either  by  the  Inspector  of  Nuisances  or  by  myself,  and  the  conditions  of  drainage, 
ventilation,  water-supply,  crowding,  etc.,  are  noted  down  on  a  form  prepared  for  the  pur- 
pose. On  another  form  I  enter  the  recommendations  for  improvements  that  it  is  neces- 
sary should  be  carried  out  These  recommendations  are  laid  before  a  com- 
mittee of  the  vestry,  which  sanctions  the  issue  of  the  requisite  orders  In 

addition  I  keep  a  list  of  all  the  streets,  courts,  and  alleys  in  my  parish,  in  which  every 
week  I  enter  the  particular  house  in  which  a  death  has  occurred,  specifying  the  character 

of  the  disease  When  two  deaths  are  thus  found  to  occur  in  any  house  within 

the  year,  that  house  is  put  upon  the  list  for  inspection,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  a  list 
of  streets  is  made  out  in  which  the  mortality  has  been  the  highest,  and  especially  in  which 
the  infant  deaths  have  been  most  numerous,  and  these  streets  are  inspected  house  by 

house  in  the  course  of  the  next  year  In  this  way  a  system  has  been  brought 

into  operation  which  works  well  and  readily. 

.  .  .  .  "It  will  interest  the  Association  to  hear  what  has  been  effected  in  this 
way  during  the  first  five  years  in  which  this  sanitary  work  has  been  proceeding.    I  have 

not  the  data  for  the  whole  Metropolis  In  16  districts  only  (not  half  of  the 

Metropolis)  we  have  25,410  cesspools  abolished,  and  65,826  houses  newly  drained  or  their 
drainage  amended;  in  15  districts  only,  34,179  privies  amended,  mostly  by  conversion 
into  water-closets,  and  5,395  houses  supplied  with  water;  in  14  districts  only,  14,490 
yards  improved  by  paving,  drainage,  or  lime-whiting,  and  13,926  residences  of  the  poor, 
at  least,  cleansed  and  lime-washed  

"  When  they  consider  the  other  house-amendments  effected,  the  strict  watch  which 
the  Health  Officers  have  endeavored  to  keep  over  the  crowding  of  tenements,  and  the  oc- 
cupation of  cellars  and  kitchens  as  sleeping-rooms,  the  Association  w'lll  be  enabled  to 
form  some  imperfect  idea  of  the  work  accomplished  in  purifying  the  habitations  of  the 
people,  especially  of  the  laboring  classes  in  London.  . 

.  .  .  .  "  Every  slaughter-house  in  London  has  been  visited  and  regularly  inspected, 
provisions  for  decency,  cleanliness,  drainage,  and  ventilation  being  in  each  case  strictly 
demanded,  and  the  requirements  of  the  law  as  to  the  erection  of  new  slaughter-houses  in 
the  neighborhood  of  dwelling-houses  regularly  brought  under  the  notice  of  the  justices  at 
quarter-sessions." 

Dr.  Ballard  further  states  that  efforts  have  been  made  to  abate  the  evils  of  the  wretch- 
ed mode  of  keeping  cows,  and  purveying  unwholesome  milk ;  regular  inspections  have 


cxvi 


EEPOJRT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


duced  from  fluctuations  of  from  30  to  40  per  thousand,  to  fluctua- 
tions of  from  13  to  20,  and  from  13  to  15  per  thousand ;  from  28 
per  thousand  to  16,  from  26  to  17.  In  particular  districts,  by  one 
measure  alone,  by  an  improved  supply  of  water,  and  by  improved 
drainage  within  the  houses,  abolishing  the  cesspool  and  substituting 
water-closet  apparatus,  the  death-rate  has  been  reduced  one-third ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  has  been  made  as  if  each  third  year  there  was  a 
jubilee  and  no  deaths  and  no  sickness.  I  have  an  instance  where 
in  an  agricultural  district,  and  with  laborers  alone,  by  care,  the 
death-rate  has  been  reduced  to  less  than  one-half — within  twelve 
in  a  thousand.  From  common  lodging-houses,  containing  a  popu- 
lation of  80,000,  by  the  enforcement  through  the  police  of  sanitary 
regulations,  typhus  and  diarrhoea,  as  epidemics,  are  banished.  In 
our  well-regulated  institutions  for  pauper  children,  those  epidemic 
visitations  which  ravage  the  children  of  the  families  of  working- 
men  are  almost  unknown,  and  the  death-rate  is  reduced  to  one- 
third  of  that  prevailing  among  their  children  So 

certain  will  the  chief  data  be  found  to  be  when  competently  exam- 
ined, as  to  enable  a  contractor  to  contract  for  the  attainment  of 
given  sanitary  results,  and  he  ought,  with  the  requisite  powers,  to 
contract  for  the  attainment  of  given  sanitary  ends." 

The  great  work  of  sanitary  reforms  was  commenced  in  the  city 
of  London  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  and  it  has  steadily  progressed, 
in  the  face  of  difficulties  such  as  need  never  be  experienced  in  our 
own  city,  until  the  annual  death-rate  of  that  metropolis  has  been 
diminished  from  50  in  1,000,  to  less  than  24  in  1,000.   With  the  au- 

been  made  of  food  offered  for  sale,  large  quantities  confiscated,  and  sellers  fined ;  and 
that  much  has  been  done  in  the  suppression  of  trade-nuisances. 

"  But  to  all  this  it  may  be  said,  cui  bono  ?  Is  public  health  improved  by  all  this  drain- 
age, house-cleaning,  and  inspection  ?    Has  it  improved  ?  " 

In  reply  Dr.  Ballard  makes  the  following  quotation  from  the  Report  of  the  Registrar- 
General :  "Iu  the  10  years,  1840-'9,  the  mean  rate  of  mortality  in  London  was  2.51  per 
cent;  in  the  subsequent  decennium,  1850-'9,  it  fell  to  2.36  per  cent.  It  is  still  more 
satisfactory  to  observe  that  the  rate  of  mortality  in  each  of  the  last  three  years,  1859— '61, 

has  been  less  than  the  lower  of  the  two  rates  just  mentioned  The  effect  oi 

that  reduction  in  the  population,  as  it  exists  at  present,  would  be  that  more  than  4,000 
persons  would  survive  annually  whose  lives  would  drop  under  the  mean  rate  derived  from 
the  20  years,  1840-59.  And  if  the  measures  that  have  been  adopted  arc  not  relaxed, 
the  amount  of  benefit  will  bo  increased." —  Transactions  of  the  National  Social  Science 
Association,  1802.  Also  see  Notes  on  recent  Sanitary  Legislation  and  Reform  in  J#n- 
■ion.    77/' Edwin  Lankester,  M.  D.,  Social  Science  Transactions,  1860. 


EXAMPLES  OF  SANITARY  WOEES  AND  EESUXTS.  CXvii 


thority  obtained  under  various  local  acts,  and  particularly  by  the 
Public  Healtb  Act  of  1848,  sanitary  improvements  were  carried  on 
with  great  effect.  Tbe  sanitary  condition  of  Liverpool  and  many 
other  large  towns  was  so  completely  and  so  speedily  changed  that 
popular  opinion  and  practices  become  important  aids  in  the  reforma- 
tory works  that  had  been  pressed  forward  by  the  arm  of  statutory 
proceedings.  The  population  of  Liverpool,  for  years  prior  to  1847, 
lite  the  population  of  the  unhealthy  districts  of  New  York  at  the 
present  time,  were  swept  into  the  grave  at  the  rate  of  36  in  the  1,000 
living  ;  but,  under  the  influence  of  sanitary  works,  the  death-pres- 
sure was  steadily  diminished  until  at  last  only  26,  or  even  24,  in 
the  1,000  die  annually.  The  following  figures  show  how  the  death- 
rate  and  the  chances  of  life  have  been  affected  by  sanitary  improve- 
ment in  three  of  the  most  unhealthy  cities  of  Great  Britain  :  * 

Annual  deatlts  in  10,000  living.       Lives  saved  in  10,000  living. 
1846.  1859.  Annually. 

Liverpool,   384   260   124 

Manchester,   371   271   100 

Glasgow   339   278   61 

Hundreds  of  illustrations  drawn  from  particular  districts  and 
from  the  smaller  cities  and  great  manufacturing  towns  of  England, 
might  be  adduced  to  show  how  certainly  and  how  speedily  sanitary 
works  are  followed  by  a  reduction  of  the  death-rate  and  by  an 
abeyance  of  fevers  and  infantile  diseases.  In  Gloucester  these 
works  were  followed  by  a  reduction  of  the  death-rate  from  27.60  to 
19.71  in  1,000 ;  in  Berwick,  from  28.5  to  21.7;  and  in  Macclesfield, 
after  five  years  of  improvement  in  house  and  street  regulations, 
and  the  construction  of  improved  dwellings  for  the  poor,  the  fol- 
lowing results  are  reported : 

"  The  decrease  of  mortality  ranged  from  12  to  60  per  cent. 
As  to  sickness,  the  cases  attended  by  the  Union  surgeons  were 
from  24  to  29  per  cent,  less  ;  and  police  offences  were  reduced  24  to 
55  per  cent. 

"  Before  the  operations  of  the  board,  the  mortality  in  the  borough, 
in  a  period  of  five  years,  was  at  the  rate  of  33  in  a  thou- 
sand ;  for  the  last  five  years  it  has  been  26  in  a  thousand.  The 
average  age  of  all  who  died  in  the  first  period  of  five  years  was  24 

*  See  Reports  by  W.  T.  McGovvan,  J.  Newlands,  Dr.  Edwin  Lankester,  and  Dr.  W.  T. 
Gairdner,  in  Social  Science  Transactions,  1860. 


cxviii 


EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


years  ;  in  the  last  five  years  it  has  been  27  years.  The  last  year's 
average  is  28£  years.  Three  years,  at  least,  have  already  been 
added  to  the  life  of  each  inhabitant.  Deaths  of  children  under 
one  year  have  decreased  16.3  per  cent. ;  and  those  under  5  years, 
4.6  per  cent.  The  decrease  of  deaths  is  chiefly  in  that  class  of 
diseases  which  are  called  preventable.  Zymotic  diseases  have  de- 
creased upwards  of  27  per  cent.  These  results,"  say  the  commit- 
tee that  reports  them,  "  were  singularly  confined  to  the  localities 
operated  upon."  * 

But  without  quoting  further  illustrations  to  show  the  value  and 
certainty  of  sanitary  improvements  in  cities,  we  close  this  section 
of  our  Report  by  referring  to  the  grand  results  that  flowed  immedi- 
ately from  the  introduction  of  rational  hygienic  reforms  into  the 
camps,  hospitals,  and  barracks  of  armies.  Official  returns  give  the 
following  among  the  statistical  results  of  less  than  four  years  reform- 
atory work.  Says  Miss  Nightingale :  "  The  total  mortality  at  home 
stations  from  all  diseases,  is  now  actually  less  than  was  formerly 
the  mortality  from  chest  diseases  alone."  f  Among  the  troops  in 
Jamaica,  the  death-rate  from  disease  has  fallen  from  260  per  1,000 
to  20  ;  in  Trinidad,  from  106  to  0  (in  1860) ;  in  Barbadoes,  from 
58  to  6 ;  in  St.  Lucia,  from  122  to  1 ;  in  British  Guiana,  from  74 
to  6  ;  in  Canada,  from  16  to  10 ;  in  Nova  Scotia,  from  15  to  7  ;  in 
Newfoundland,  from  11  to  4 ;  in  Bermuda,  from  28  to  8 ;  in  Gib- 
raltar, from  11  to  7 ;  in  Malta,  from  15  to  10.  Similar  results, 
upon  a  grander  scale,  have  been  wrought  out  in  the  vast  armies  of 
our  American  republic.  The  United  States  Sanitary  Commission 
started  in  its  sacred  purpose  of  life-saving  fully  determined  that  in 
the  volunteer  forces  "  the  problems  of  sanitary  science  were  to  be 
wrought  out  as  a  national  and  patriotic  work.  The  death-rates  of 
the  Mexican  campaign  would  imperil  the  national  cause,  and  bring 
sorrow  to  every  home  in  the  land.  Can  the  average  sickness-rate 
be  kept  at  a  minimum  point?  Can  the  average  death-rate  from 
disease  be  reduced  to  a  fraction  of  that  which  was  registered  in 
the  Mexican  war?  This  result  the  Commission  believed  possible. 
It  was  to  be  accomplished  by  prevention  and  by  succory  \  This 

"  Sixth  Report  of  the  IacoI  Hoard  of  Health  and  Improvement  Committee,  Mucclcs 
Bold,  1859. 

\  Sec  11  Army  Sanitary  Administration  and  its  Reform."    By  Florence-  Nightingale. 
\  North  American  Review,  No.  ('('III.,  April,  180-1,  Article,  United  States  Sanitary 
Commission. 


PROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  SANTTAKT  NECESSITIES.  Cxix 

result  has  been  accomplished  ;  and  wherever  the  Commission  has 
brought  its  influence  and  its  agencies  successfully  to  bear,  the  rates 
of  disability  and  mortality  from  disease  have  been  less  than  in  any 
other  great  army,  and  far  less  than  in  the  tenant-house  population 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  notwithstanding  the  hardships  and  fear- 
ful exposures  of  army  life. 

PROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  THE  SANITARY  NECESSITIES  OF  NEW  YORK. 
USES  OF  SANITARY  AND  VITAL  STATISTICS. 

The  commerce  and  confluent  wealth  of  the  continent  have 
determined  the  fact  that  New  York  shall  for  many  generations  be 
the  most  populous  city  in  America.  With  such  a  destiny  before 
its  citizens  they  would  be  recreant  to  their  duty  and  their  manhood 
if  they  remained  indifferent  to  the  sanitary  welfare  of  the  vast  popu- 
lation that  already  crowds  this  metropolis,  and  which  is  rapidly  in- 
creasing to  a  number  that  will  exceed  the  millions  of  London  or 
Paris.  In  view  of  this  prospective  augmention  of  population,  and 
an  increase  of  crowding  as  well  as  of  all  the  physical  necessities 
and  sanitary  perils  that  are  attendant  upon  the  commerce  of  such  a 
city,  the  Council  of  Hygiene  has  deemed  it  a  duty  to  the  citizens 
who  have  asked  for  this  Report  and  for  the  commencement  of  sani- 
tary inquiry,  to  regard  the  whole  subject  of  sanitary  works  with 
reference  to  the  inevitable  necessities  of  the  future,  as  well  as  of 
those  which  are  at  the  present  time  so  urgent. 

In  laying  out  its  plan  of  sanitary  inquiry  and  inspection,  there- 
fore, the  Council  has  regarded  the  physical  evils  and  the  sources  of 
disease  that  are  now  prevalent  in  particular  sections  of  the  city 
and  among  particular  classes  of  the  population,  as  portending  still 
greater  evils  in  the  future  and  threatening  a  vastly  greater  popula- 
tion. But  the  investigation  of  existing  wants  and  of  prospective 
necessities  results  in  discovering  the  simplest,  surest,  and  most 
economical  remedies  for  the  present  as  well  as  the  future  evils.  In 
most  cases  the  remedies  are  one  and  the  same :  the  evils  of  the 
existing  tenant-house  system,  and  of  the  overcrowding,  filthiness, 
and  neglect  of  particular  localities,  may  be  cited  as  illustrations. 

The  present  population  of  this  city  is  believed  to  be  little  less 
than  one  million.  The  greater  portion  of  this  mass  of  inhabitants 
is  crowded  upon  an  area  of  about  15  square  miles,  including  the 


cxx 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


entire  areas  of  streets,  and  the  whole  commercial  district.  This 
gives  a  population  of  nearly  100,000  to  the  square  mile,  deducting 
the  area  of  warehouses.  Commerce  is  rapidly  encroaching  upon 
the  whole  district  south  of  Fourteenth  Street,  and  more  than  half 
the  population  south  of  that  line  must,  in  another  generation,  seek 
homes  beyond  that  southern  district.  But  the  streets  and  avenues 
of  all  the  remaining  portion  of  the  city  and  island  are  sufficiently 
wide  and  well  arranged  to  secure  the  best  external  ventilation, 
and,  if  properly  drained  and  sewered,  and  always  kept  clean,  all 
that  immense  stretch  of  the  newly-built  city  of  dwellings  would 
be  capable  of  affording  healthy  homes  to  a  denser  population  than 
at  present  exists  in  any  city  in  the  world  ;  and  we  are  warranted 
in  the  opinion  that  within  a  period  of  less  than  eighty  years,  the 
entire  inhabitable  portion  of  this  island  will  actually  have  a  greater 
population  to  the  square  mile  than  any  other  city  of  the  civilized 
world  now  has.  Hence  it  is  manifestly  one  of  the  first  duties  of 
sanitary  inquiry  carefully  to  estimate  the  hygienic  problems  that 
must  be  practically  wrought  out  in  order  to  give  sanitary  security 
to  millions  of  people  thus  crowded  within  a  narrow  field  of  brick 
and  mortar,  and  flanked  on  either  river  side  by  mercantile  fleets 
and  warehouses.  We  need  not  attempt  in  this  Report  to  bring 
forward  any  speculations  upon  such  questions.  It  is  sufficient  to 
know  that  great  necessities  which  are  as  inevitable  as  they  are  pecu- 
liar to  the  insular  character  and  unparalleled  commerce  of  our  city, 
are  impending  and  must  be  met.  To  evade  the  responsibility  or 
falter  in  the  duty  of  meeting  the  necessities  and  avoiding  the  perils 
that  must  soon  be  upon  us,  and  which  even  now  can  be  practically 
appreciated  by  visiting  some  of  the  overcrowded  districts,  should 
stamp  us  as  unworthy  of  citizenslrip  in  the  metropolis  of  a  country 
like  ours. 

As  we  have  said  in  a  former  section,  the  progressive  sciences 
and  arts,  and  the  genius  of  the  age,  can  be  trusted  to  work  out 
any  problems  which  hygiene  requires  to  be  practically  applied. 
But  the  fact  needs  to  be  home  in  mind  that  while  the  total  popu- 
lation of  New  York  is  so  rapidly  increasing,  the  relative  propor- 
tion of  the  poorer  and  ignorant  classes  is  advancing  by  a  rapid 
ratio,  for  the  wealthier  classes  are  as  rapidly  peopling  the  entire 
suburban  district  over  a  radius  of  many  miles  from  tho  counting- 
houses  of  the  city.    The  facts  relating  to  the  ratio  of  increase  and 


PROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  SANITARY  NECESSITIES.  CXXI 


the  prospective  aggregates  and  location  of  the  population,  are  so 
well  presented  in  a  communication  recently  made  to  us  by  Dr. 
Franklin  B.  Hough,  the  superintendent  of  the  Census  for  the  State 
of  New  York,  that  we  heg  leave  to  present  them  here : 

"  The  accompanying  table  shows  the  increase  and  decrease  of 
the  population  of  the  city  of  New  York,  constructed  from  the 
census  returns  since  the  year  1790.*    The  apparent  decrease  of 


*  POPULATION  OF  NEW  TOEK  CITY. 


li  90.  1800-  1810.  1814.  1820.  1825.  1830.  1835.  1840.  1845.  1850.  1855.  1860. 


l<t  

2d.  

3d..... 
4th.... 
6th  .... 
6th.... 
5th.... 
8th.... 
9th.... 
10th .... 

nth.... 

12th.... 
13th  ... 
14th.... 
15th.... 
16th.... 
lTth.... 
18th.... 
19th.... 
20th.... 
Slat...., 
S2d  


1835 
1827 
1827 
182T 
1832 
1836 
1837 
1848 
1850 
1851 
1853 
1863 


4,320 
6,167 
6.449 
6,935 
9,148 
13,076 
15,394 


7,941 
8,493 
7  426 
10.226 
14,744 
11.286 
12,120 
9,128 
4.719 
10,8'JO 


7,630 
7,439 
7,495 
9,856 
14,523 
11,821 
10.856 
10,702 
4,343 
10,824 


12,085 
8,214 
9,201 
10,736 
12,421 
13,309 
13,C06 
13,766 
11,162 
17,806 


9,929 
9,315 
10,801 
12,240 
15.093 
20,061 
14,192 
24,21-5 
10,956 
23,932 


Total   33,131    60,489    96,373    96,619  123,706  166,086  197,112  268,089  312,710  371,223  516,547  629,810  605,358 


11,331 
8,213 
9,599 
14,705 
17,722 
13,670 
15.373 
20.729 
17,333 
16,*« 
14,915 
11,808 
12,698 
14,253 


10.380 
7,549 
10.834 
J  1,439 
18,495 
14.827 
21,431 
28.570 
20,618 
20,929 
26,845 
24,437 
17,130 
17,306 

l'J.L'i.2 


10,629 
6,394 
11,681 
15,770 
19,159 
17,198 
22,982 
29,073 
24,795 
29,026 
17,053 
11,652 
18,617 
20,235 
17,755 
22,723 
18,619 


12,230 
6,962 
11,900 
21,000 
20,362 
19,343 
25.556 
30,900 
30.907 
20,993 
27.269 
13,378 
22,41 1 
21,103 
19,422 
40,350 
27,147 


19,754 
6,665 
10,355 
23,250 
22.6S6 
24,698 
32,690 
34,612 
40,657 
23,316 
43,758 
10,451 
2S.246 
25,196 
22,564 
52,882 
43,766 
31,546 
18  465 


13,486  17,373 
3,249  2,607 


7,919 
22,895 
21,617 
25,562 
34,422 
34,052 
39,982 
26,378 
52,979 
17,656 
26,597 
24,754 
21,046 
39,823 
59,548 
39,415 
17,866 
47,055 
27,914 
22,605 


3,757 
21,994 
22,337 
26,696 
39,982 
39,406 
44,385 
29,004 
59.571 
27,958 
32,917 
28,080 
27,587 
45,176 
72,953 
67,462 
28,252 
67,519 
49,017 
61,12* 


Percentage  of  Increase  and  Decrease  of  Population  in  the  several  Wards  of  New  York 
City,  between  each  Census  Period  since  1790.  [Shown  in  percentages  upon  totai 
Population.] 


WAEDS. 

1800. 

1810. 

1S14. 

1820. 

1825.  |  1830. 

1835. 

1840. 

1845. 

1850. 

1855. 

1860. 

1st  1  

bl 
62 
15 
47 
61 
—14 
-31 

4 

—12 
1 
—3 
—2 
5 

—10 
17 

—8 
5 

58 
10 
23 
9 

—14 

13 
19 
28 
128 
65 

—18 
13 
17 
14 
22 
51 
9 
76 
—2 
34 

14 
—12 
-11 
4 

17 
—32 

12 
—15 

58 
—31 

— 8 
—8 
14 
—9 
8 
9 
85 
87 
19 
27 

2 

-15 
6 

38 
4 

16 
7 
2 

20 

39 

15 
9 
3 

83 
6 

12 

11 
8 

25 
—88 

61 
—4 

—13 
11 
11 
28 
28 
12 
81 
11 
61 

—22 
26 
19 
16 
31 
61 

—32 
—51 
—33 
—1 
—5 
4 
6 
—1 
—1 
13 
21 
68 
—6 
2 
7 

—25 
36 
25 
8 

85 
—20 
—57 
—4 
8 
4 
16 
15 
11 
10 
18 
74 
24 
13 
14 
13 
23 
45 
84 
44 
76 
178 

2(1  1  

8d  

4th  

5th  

6th  

7th  

8th  

9th  







18th  

20th  

21st  

22d  

Total  increase  in 
each  decennial 
Period  

83 

59 

-1 

30 

84 

18 

86 

17 

16 

89  1  20 

29 

Mean  Annual  In- 
crease between 

8.8 

5.9 

-0.2 

6.0  1  6.8 

3.8 

7.2  I  3.4 

3.2    7.8  4.0 

5.8 

cxxii 


REPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


population  in  some  wards  is  due,  in  most  instances,  to  subdivision 
in  the  formation  of  new  ones ;  still  it  is  apparent  that  the  popula- 
tion of  the  lower  portion  of  the  island  "  [city]  "  is  steadily  decreas- 
ing as  the  demands  of  commerce  crowd  upon  the  area  formerly 
occupied  by  families. 

"  The  future  rate  of  increase  of  New  York  and  its  dependen- 
cies as  a  great  metropolis,  may  be  safely  estimated  as  high  as  7 
per  cent,  per  annum ;  although  the  distribution  among  wards,  and 
even  among  counties,  depends  upon  facilities  of  communications 
and  the  demands  and  location  of  business. 

"  The  island  of  Manhattan,  the  west  end  of  Long  Island,  the 
lower  part  of  Westchester  County,  the  neighboring  shores  of  New 
Jersey,  and  the  north  half  of  Stat  en  Island,  are  destined  to  receive  an 
aggregate  population  greater  than  that  of  any  metropolis  now  exist- 
ing, or  that  shall  then  be  existing  in  the  world.  We  do  not  bor- 
row from  imagination ;  for  taking  the  last  census  returns  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  a  third  of  Westchester,  a 
third  of  Queens,  and  half  of  Staten  Island,  as  constituting  the 
metropolis,  we  have  the  following  absolute  and  comparative  num 
bers : 


Years. 

Aggregate  Population. 

Percentage  of  Increase 
in  Last  Decennial  Period. 

Annual  Percentage  of 
Increase. 

1830 

240,827 

1840 

392,147 

62.8 

6.28 

1850 

093,658 

76.9 

7.69 

18G0 

1,145,338 

65.1 

6.51 

"  While  we  can  foresee  nothing  that  will  have  a  tendency  to 
check  the  general  growth  of  New  York  and  its  dependeniecs  as  a 
whole,  there  are  doubtless  many  things  still  unknown,  which  will 
tend  greatly  to  accelerate  its  growth  in  population  and  wealth." 

"  This  question,"  adds  Dr.  Hough,  who  is  eminently  versed  in 
sanitary  knowledge  and  vital  statistics,  "  in  view  of  its  vast  im- 
portance, and  its  sanitary  relations  and  necessities,  demands  the 
earnest  and  thoughtful  consideration  of  every  citizen  who  has  a 
family  to  be  exposed  to  disease  derived  from  neglect  of  public  hv- 


USES  OF  VITAL  STATISTICS. 


CXX111 


giene,  or  property  to  be  enhanced  or  reduced,  in  value  by  the 
security  or  abuse  of  sanitary  laws." 

Here  we  have  a  trustworthy  and  clear  statement  of  the  parti- 
cular laws  of  increase  in  population  in  this  city  and  its  suburbs, 
and  is  it  not  the  duty  of  citizens  to  take  wise  and  forecasting  meas- 
ures to  render  this  the  most  prosperous  and  healthful  metropolis 
in  the  world  %  Whatever  plans  of  special  improvement  may  be 
undertaken,  their  successful  prosecution,  and  the  intelligent  appli- 
cation of  means  to  ends,  must  depend  upon  definite  information. 
Sanitary  and  Yital  Statistics  are,  therefore,  to  be  gleaned  and 
studied  for  this  purpose.  Not  only  must  the  registration  of  Births, 
Marriages,  and  Deaths  be  faithfully  attended  to  as  a  public  duty, 
but  there  must  be  a  more  intelligent  and  practical  use  made  of 
that  class  of  dry  statistics ;  and,  more  than  that,  there  should  at 
once  be  put  into  operation  a  comprehensive  system  of  sanitary 
inquiry  of  a  much  more  vital  character.  Says  a  very  high  authority 
in  vital  statistics,  "  "We  have  still  much  to  learn,  both  as  to  parti- 
cular diseases  which  cause  the  excessive  mortality  of  unhealthy 
places,  and  the  nature  of  the  circumstances  by  which  they  are  pro- 
duced. The  evils  which  sap  the  health  and  shorten  the  lives  of 
an  unhealthy  population,  which  create  paupers  and  augment  the 
public  burdens,  are  multifarious,  and  require  measures  proportion- 
ably  varied  for  their  removal."*  The  Statistics  of  Health  and 
Disease  must  be  carefully  studied,  and  the  localities,  causes,  and 
variations  of  excessive  sickness  and  death-rates  should  be  con- 
stantly noted  by  competent  observers,  such  as  the  Sanitary  Inspec- 
tors who  have  voluntarily  aided  this  Council  of  Hygiene. 

A  great  variety  of  subjects  constantly  demand,  not  only  the 
surveillance  of  sanitary  inspection,  but  statistical  registration  and 
skilled  analysis,  f    Such  labors  ought,  of  course,  to  be  conducted 

*  Sec  an  Essay  by  Dr.  Greenhow,  in  Transactions  of  Social  Science  Association,  1857  ; 
pages  365,  387. 

\  "  A  watchful  care  over  the  health  of  the  people,  and  a  due  regard  of  matters  which 
concern  their  health,  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of  Government. 
The  fact  that  the  subject  of  hygiene  and  State  medicine  have  commenced  to  attract  so 
much  the  public  attention,  is  undoubtedly  owing  to  the  application  of  statistics  to  public 
health.  It  is  impossible  for  any  nation,  or  for  any  Government,  to  remain  indifferent 
when,  in  figures  which  admit  of  no  denial,  the  national  amount  of  health  and  happiness, 
or  disease  and  suffering,  is  determined."  Introduction  to  Manual  of  Hygiene.  By  E.  A. 
Parkcs,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Hygiene  in  British  Army  Medical  School,  London,  1864. 


cxxiv 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


by  the  Government,  and  there  should  be  unceasing  effort  to  secure 
the  intelligent  action  of  legislators  upon  this  and  all  other  sanitary 
questions.  The  city  and  the  State  have  a  direct  and  very  import- 
ant interest  in  the  faithful  registration  and  analysis  of  this  class 
of  statistics.*  The  office  and  the  quarterly  reports  of  the  Registrar- 
General  of  England,  as  well  as  the  masterly  labors  of  the  medical 
officer  to  the  Privy  Council,  have  become  powerful  agencies  in 
working  out  the  most  important  social  and  political  improvements 
in  that  country  ;  and  says  a  careful  observer,  "  when  the  effect  of 
all  these  researches  and  measures  develops  itself,  it  will  be  seen 
that  even  great  wars  and  political  earthquakes  are  really  nothing 
in  comparison  with  these  silent  social  changes."  Miss  Nightingale, 
grasping  the  meaning  of  truthfully  observed  facts  relating  to 
health,  disease,  armies,  hospitals,  and  deaths,  grouped  and  focalized 
those  repulsive  statistics ;  and  after  braving  the  pestilence  of  Scutari, 
and  the  fever  poisons  of  the  Crimean  camps,  she  pointed  her  de- 
ductions directly  at  the  very  sources  of  the  chronic  evils  that  had 
destroyed  the  flower  of  the  British  Army ;  and,  by  another  presenta- 
tion of  her  statistics,  the  barriers  to  sanitary  reform  and  rational 
administration  in  the  army  were  quickly  swept  away.  The  United 
States  Sanitary  Commission  began  and  has  carried  on  its  good  work 
in  the  same  way,  and  for  more  than  three  years  it  has  maintained 
a  special  bureau  of  vital  statistics,  which  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  comprehensive  of  any  department  of  the  kind  in  the  world.f 
All  this  has  been  done  in  the  interest  of  philanthropy ;  what,  then, 
shall  deter  the  citizens  of  our  vast  and  wealthy  metropolis  from 
substituting  for  the  existing  Bureau  of  Registration,  which  is  prac- 
tically useless  as  a  sanitary  and  life-saving  agency,  such  a  depart- 
ment of  Vital  Statistics  as  will  serve  the  claims  of  humanity,  and 
become  an  active  agency  of  social  renovation  and  of  economical 
advantage  to  the  city  ? 


•  Sec  remarks  on  this  subject  in  a  Report  on  (lie  Medical  Topography,  and  Epidemics 
of  Hue  State  of  New  York  ;  by  Joseph  M.  Smitii,  M.  D.  Transactions  Am.  Medical  Asso- 
sociation,  1860. 

f  Sec  United  States  Sanitary  Commission  Documents  Nos.  40  and  46 ;  also,  A  Narra- 
tive of  die  Purposes  and  Works  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  1864. 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


CXXV 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 

In  prosecuting  our  labors  as  a  Council  of  Inquiry  and  Advice, 
the  fact  has  constantly  been  kept  in  mind  that  a  definite  knowl- 
edge of  the  maladies  to  be  treated  must  precede  and  guide  the 
rational  and  successful  application  of  appropriate  remedies.  The 
sanitary  treatment  of  removable  sources  of  disease  and  attendant 
social  evils  that  endanger  our  city  must  necessarily  be  based  upon 
a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  causes  from  which  such  evils 
arise.  Chief  among  those  causes  of  the  preventable  disease,  mor- 
tality, and  public  peril,  which  this  Council  and  its  corps  of  Sani- 
tary Inspectors  have  everywhere  encountered  in  then-  inquiries,  are 
to  be  mentioned — first,  the  utter  inefficiency  and  unsuitableness  of 
the  municipal  health  organizations,  under  which  the  sanitary  wants 
of  the  city  have  for  years  been  increasing ;  second,  the  almost 
universal  prevalence  of  ignorance  and  apathy  among  the  classes 
most  endangered  by  their  own  sanitary  wants  ;  and  lastly,  the  ab- 
sence of  an  adequate  public  appreciation  of  the  vital  importance 
of  sanitary  improvements,  and  of  competent  officers  of  health. 

The  first  sanitary  agency  which  municipal  government  should 
provide  for  this  city  is  cleanliness.  Yet  our  Sanitary  Inspectors 
have,  throughout  the  entire  period  of  their  labors,  reported  the 
prevalence  of  universal  filthiness,  the  only  exceptions  being  a  few 
streets  and  places  that  are  daily  cleaned  by  private  enterprise. 
Cleanliness  should  be  enforced  in  a  crowded  city  like  New  York  at 
any  cost,  for  by  neglecting  it  the  public  health  is  jeopardized,  and 
the  social  condition  of  the  population  becomes  debased.  Yet  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  an  effective  sanitary  system  should  ex- 
tend its  functions  to  other  problems  than  those  which  relate  to 
cleanliness  alone.  There  needs  to  be  an  unremitting  inquiry  into 
the  circumstances  under  which  particular  diseases  prevail,  or  an 
excessive  mortality  occurs;  comprehensive  methods  of  investiga- 
tion and  improvement  must  be  applied,  so  as  to  render  the  labors 
of  sanitary  inspection  and  research  directly  tributary  to  the  eleva- 
tion, intelligence,  and  self-care  of  the  classes  upon  whom  now  fall 
the  heavy  burdens  of  preventable  sickness  and  death  ;  in  short,  to 
employ  the  necessary  means  to  remove  and  permanently  prevent  such 
needless  evils.  Hence  it  becomes  one  of  the  very  first  duties  of  a 
municipal  sanitary  system  to  acquire  definite  and  detailed  informa- 


cxxvi 


KErOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


tion  in  regard  to  the  relation  of  sickness  and  mortality  to  particu- 
lar causes,  and  to  observe  the  special  incidence  of  those  causes  and 
results  upon  every  age  and  condition  in  the  community.  Statistics 
of  disease  and  of  health,  of  deaths  and  the  removable  causes  of 
mortality,  should  be  obtained  and  analyzed,  and  practical  deductions 
therefrom  should  be  applied  to  works  of  sanitary  reform ;  the  in- 
salubrious agency  of  particular  trades,  manufactories,  customs,  arti- 
cles of  food,  domestic  wants,  habits,  and  social  conditions,  the 
local  evils,  special  nuisances,  and  overcrowding  of  given  areas,  and 
lastly,  the  sanitary  history  and  results  of  all  works  of  an  improv- 
ing or  an  injurious  nature  should  be  made  the  subject  of  official 
attention  and  public  record.  And  not  only  do  the  general  inter- 
ests of  society  require  that  all  these  elements  of  hygienic  knowl- 
edge should  be  constantly  accumulating  and  continually  applied 
to  practical  ends,  but  the  public  health,  and  all  the  interests  of  hu- 
manity, in  a  vast  and  crowded  population  like  that  of  New  York, 
require  that  death-rates  and  sickness-rates,  and  the  prevalence  of 
preventable  diseases,  should  be  watched,  and  that  the  particular 
causes  of  such  diseases  be  unremittingly  observed,  and  their  sources 
controlled  or  removed.    There  must  he  Officers  of  Health* 

The  scope,  methods,  and  appliances  of  an  efficient  sanitary  sys- 
tem that  shall  be  found  adequate  in  all  respects  to  meet  the  wants 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  ought  no  longer  to  be  matters  of  un- 
certainty or  neglect,  for  upon  the  prompt  and  intelligent  action  of 
citizens  on  these  questions  depends  the  satisfactory  solution  of 
many  problems  that  most  vitally  concern  the  physical  welfare  of 
the  millions  who  are  to  inhabit  this  metropolis— problems  that  in- 
timately concern  the  interests  of  humanity  and  the  silently  opera- 

*  The  qualifications  and  duties  of  Sanitary  Officers  arc  set  forth  in  the  following  terms 
by  an  experienced  authority : 

"  Health  being  a  condition  of  life,  those  only  who  have  studied  the  laws  of  life,  and 
the  external  and  internal  agencies  which  influence  it,  can  properly  be  aware  to  which  of 
these  external  or  internal  agencies  should  be  referred  deviations  from  the  condition  de- 
nominated health.  Upon  a  proper  discrimination  of  the  causes  of  disease  must  ultimately 
rest  the  practical  usefulness  of  an  officer  of  health.  The  officer  of  health,  then,  must  him- 
self be  thoroughly  informed  in  all  the  circumstances  which  aflect  the  health  of  ninn,  not 
only  in  his  isolated  condition  as  an  individual,  but  in  his  social  condition,  and  in  his  stato 
of  aggregation.  He  must  be  intimately  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  the  people — moral, 
social,  and  physical — and  with  their  various  influences  on  health.  The  curative  physician 
exerts  himself  to  remedy  the  results  of  disease  in  man  as  on  individual ;  it  is  the  business 
of  the  preventive  physician  to  avert  these  results  to  man  in  his  social  and  aggregate  state." 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


cxxvii 


ting  social  conditions  that  affect  important  interests  of  the  State. 
The  views  entertained  by  the  Council  of  Hygiene  in  regard  to  the 
necessary  agencies  of  sanitary  improvement  have  been  incidentally 
set  forth  and  variously  illustrated  in  other  sections  of  this  report. 
They  may  be  comprehensively  defined  in  the  brief  words,  hygie- 
nic inspection  and  inquiry,  sanitary  regulations,  and  sanitary 
works.    Such  a  system  would  necessarily  provide — 

1.  That  the  labors  of  hygienic  inspection  and  inquiry  be  system- 
atic, thorough,  and  unremitting,  and  that  skilled  and  thoroughly 
trained  minds  be  employed  in  such  labors. 

2.  That  the  officers  of  health  should  have  the  full  cooperation 
of  police  authorities,  and  that  civic  cleanliness  and  the  removal  and 
prevention  of  nuisances,  together  with  a  strict  obedience  to  sani- 
tary regulations,  should  be  enforced  by  the  Metropolitan  Police.* 

3.  That  in  the  practical  operations  of  the  new  sanitary  system 
useful  information  and  instruction  should  be  so  combined  with  au- 
thority as  to  suggest  and  directly  promote  thorough  and  permanent 
works  of  sanitary  improvement,  and  at  the  same  time  give  a  judi- 
cious direction  to  public  opinion  as  well  as  to  individual  and  asso- 
ciated efforts  ;  and  that  various  works,  much  needed  for  such  sani- 
tary improvement  in  dwellings,  trades,  localities,  public  places, 
popular  practices,  and  civic  conditions — now  insalubrious — be  im- 
mediately commenced,  and  by  such  means  rendered  successful  and 
publicly  beneficial. 

These,  and  many  other  important  results,  which  need  to  be  at- 
tained by  a  sanitary  government,  manifestly  require  the  establish- 
ment and  constant  service  of  an  enlightened  Board  of  Health, 
whose  profound  knowledge  of  disease  and  its  causes,  and  of  sani- 
tary science  and  its  practical  applications,  will  successfully  direct 
the  various  labors  of  inquiry  and  inspection,  and  wisely  administer 
sanitary  regulations  and  laws. 

Remedial  Measures  that  cannot  Safely  be  Delayed. — In 

*  During  our  sanitary  survey  of  the  city,  the  activity  and  usefulness  of  the  Metropoli- 
tan Police  in  promoting  cleanliness  and  sanitary  care  in  crowded  neighborhoods,  have  re- 
ceived well-merited  encomiums  from  the  Sanitary  Inspectors.  A  statement  of  some  of  the 
results  of  labor  executed  by  the  squad  of  policemen  known  as  the  Sanitary  Police  Com- 
pany, will  be  found  tabulated  upon  a  subsequent  page.  To  Captain  B.  G.  Lord,  in  com- 
mand of  that  company,  this  Council  is  under  obligations  for  official  courtesies  and  for 
prompt  action  upon  the  information  received  from  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  through  tho 
office  of  the  Citizens'  Association. 


cxxviii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


concluding  this  report  it  is  deemed  incumbent  upon  the  Council  to 
call  the  attention  of  citizens  to  the  more  important  sanitary  worka 
which'  cannot  be  longer  deferred  without  imminent  peril  to  the 
public  welfare.  Upon  the  subjects  of  which  special  mention  is 
made  in  this  place,  the  recent  sanitary  survey  and  inspectors  have 
thrown  sufficient  light  to  show  the  necessity  of  immediately  insti- 
tuting reformatory  measures,  without  waiting  the  development  of 
a  complete  system  of  sanitary  government.  These  measures  are 
presented  under  the  following  heads :  (1.)  Cleanliness  of  the  city. 
(2.)  The  ventilation  of  tenant-houses,  etc.,  and  the  prevention  of 
overcrowding.   (3.)  The  care  of  contagious  and  infectious  diseases. 

(1.)  Cleanliness  and  the  Removal  of  Nuisances. — There 
can  be  no  apology  for  the  continuance  of  the  universal  filth  iness 
that  prevails  in  the  streets  and  passages  of  the  city.  The  injuri- 
ous influence  of  such  uncleanliness  upon  public  health  does  not 
admit  of  doubt.  Neglected  garbage  and  filthy  garbage-boxes, 
reeking  gutters  and  unswept  pavements,  dead  animals  neglected  in 
the  open  streets,  and  the  transportation  of  putrid  offal,  etc.,  in  the 
most  crowded  thoroughfares ;  slaughter-pens  and  their  attendant 
nuisances  in  populous  neighborhoods,  and  the  uncontrolled  elimina- 
tion of  all  manner  of  noisome  gases  from  manufactories  of  various 
kinds,  are  offences  against  health  and  decency  that  ought  to  be 
wholly  abated  and  prevented. 

The  time  will  undoubtedly  come  when  improved  methods  and 
comprehensive  considerations  of  economy  will  essentially  facilitate 
and  cheapen  the  work  of  cleaning  the  city  and  removing  its  vari- 
ous sources  of  public  nuisance  ;*  but  there  exists  a  sanitary  neces- 


*  Probably  the  time  is  not  distant  when  the  wants  of  the  agriculturist,  and  skill  of  tho 
economical  chemist,  with  the  aid  of  sanitary  inquirers,  will  greatly  aid  the  processes  of 
civic  cleansing.  Says  Prof.  Licbig :  "  Of  all  the  elements  of  the  fields  which,  intheir  prod- 
ucts, in  the  shape  of  corn  and  meat,  arc  carried  into  the  cities,  and  there  consumed, 
nothing,  or  as  good  as  nothing,  returns  to  the  fields.  It  is  clear  that  if  these  elements 
were  collected  without  loss,  and  every  year  restored  to  the  fields,  these  would  then  retain 
the  power  to  furnish  to  the  cities  the  same  quantity  of  corn  and  meat ;  and  it  is  equally 
clear  that  if  the  fields  do  not  receive  back  these  elements,  agriculture  must  gradually 
cease.  In  regard  to  the  utility  of  the  avails  of  the  1  sewage  of  towns '  as  manures,  no 
farmer,  and  scarcely  an  intelligent  man  has  any  doubt."  Sec  Licbig's  letter  to  Alderman 
Mccbi,  Vicli  on  the  Economical  Disposition  of  the  Refuse  Matter  of  Cities  ;  Transactions 
National  Sanitary  Convention.  Boston:  1800.  Also,  Licbig's  Natural  Laws  of  Husband- 
ry.   D.  Appleton  Si  Co. :  1863. 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES 


cxxrx 


sitxj  for  at  once  enforcing  civic  cleanliness  and  the  proper  control 
of  public  nuisances,  and  this  necessity  is  too  imperative  to  permit 
the  delay  of  such  works  until  the  growing  demands  of  agriculture 
and  the  improvements  in  chemical  and  other  arts  of  utility  come 
in  to  lighten,  or  altogether  assume  the  duties  of  scavenging  and 
cleansing  the  city.  If  there  is  any  force  in  existing  laws  and  mu- 
nicipal ordinances  concerning  street-cleaning,  and  the  care  of  do- 
mestic and  public  nuisances,  the  public  health  requires  that  it 
should  be  rigorously  passed  upon  the  persons  whose  duty  it  is  to 
execute  such  works.  It  is  proper  in  this  place  to  call  attention  to 
a  special  source  of  physiological  discomfort  and  of  injury  to  health, 
which  is  also  a  cause  of  public  nuisance  in  all  parts  of  the  city.  From 
one  extremity  of  the  city  to  the  other — excepting  in  the  Central 
Park — no  public  provision  has  been  made  for  the  physiological 
calls  of  nature,  which  require  privacy.  This  scandalous  want  is 
regarded  with  concern  by  medical  advisers ;  but  considered  simply 
as  a  cause  of  indecency  and  public  nuisance,  it  should  be  obviated 
by  suitable  municipal  care  and  provision,  or  by  private  enterprise, 
in  preparing  needed  plans  and  structures.  We  deem  it  important, 
also,  to  call  attention  to  the  preventable  nuisances  that  arise  from 
many  of  the  public  and  private  stables  in  the  city.  That  many  of 
the  stables  in  the  crowded  districts  act  injuriously  upon  the  public 
health  is  testified  by  our  Sanitary  Inspectors,  and  yet  it  is  entirely 
practicable  to  prevent  the  principal  causes  of  their  offensive  and 
insalubrious  character  by  means  of  sanitary  appliances  and  regula- 
tions. The  daily  employment  of  the  coal  tar  or  the  chlorine  com- 
pounds, and  proper  absorbents,  would  control  the  elimination  of 
the  offensive  gases,  and  by  this  means,  with  enforced  cleanliness,  a 
serious  and  growing  evil  could  at  once  be  abated. 

(2.)  Ventilation  and  the  Prevention  of  Overcrowding. — The 
excessive  crowding,  not  only  of  particular  localities,  but  of  every 
district  of  this  city,  must  be  anticipated  as  an  inevitable  destiny  ; 
but  this  fact,  instead  of  portending  evil  to  our  physical  welfare, 
may  justly  be  regarded  as  a  circumstance  that  is  favorable  to  the 
sanitary  interests  of  the  millions  who  will  dwell  here  in  future  time, 
if,  in  consequence  of  such  anticipations,  the  hygienic  necessities 
which  are  incident  to  such  aggregation  of  a  population  should 
likewise  be  anticipated  and  provided  for  as  they  should  be.  Viewed 
in  this  light,  as  well  as  in  the  light  of  the  existing  wants  of  a  vast 
9 


cxxx 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


population,  the  subject  of  improved  dwelling  accommodations  is 
of  paramount  importance.  The  successful  operations  of  the  pro- 
posed department  of  social  statistics  and  dwelling  improvement* 
will  tend  to  promote  such  works ;  yet  such  are  the  present  necessities 
of  the  poorer  classes  in  the  city,  in  respect  of  healthy  dwellings, 
that  there  should  be  no  delay,  on  the  part  of  citizens,  in  com- 
mencing such  practicable  improvements  as  will  prepare  healthy 
domiciles  for  the  hundred  thousand  of  the  laboring  classes  at  present 
dwelling  in  overcrowded  tenant-houses,  that  have  already  become 
the  localizing  centres  of  disease.  Upon  this  subject  Ave  submit 
two  suggestions :  1.  Let  numerous  tenant  dwellings  be  constructed 
for  this  and  other  dependent  classes,  upon  plans  that  shall  be  fully  ap- 
proved by  practical  hygienists.  2.  Let  proper  means  be  immediate- 
ly devised  and  put  into  practical  operation  for  the  introduction  of 
adequate  ventilation  into  the  faulty  tenant-houses  of  overcrowded 
localities.  In  regard  to  these  improvements  it  will  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  preparation  of  any  considerable  number  of  improved 
dwellings  for  the  laboring  classes  will  be  a  gradual  work,  and  that 
in  the  absence  of  sanitary  laws  against  the  overcrowding  of  tenant- 
houses,  as  well  as  against  faulty  construction,  there  exists  an  urgent 
necessity  for  the  introduction  of  such  alterations  as  will  provide 
for  the  admission  of  sufficient  air  and  sunlight  to  drive  from  those 
crowded  habitations  the  causes  of  typhus  and  domestic  pestilence. 
The  voluntary  efforts  of  proprietors,  prompted  by  any  influence 
that  can  be  brought  to  bear,  and  the  enlightened  enterprise  of 
public  spirited  capitalists,  need  to  be  enlisted  in  promoting  tthis 
kind  of  improvement.f  "We  are  not  insensible  to  the  fact  that  it 
is  essential  to  the  ultimate  success  of  any  great  improvement  in 
tenant  dwellings  that  the  improvement  itself  should  be  clearly  re- 
munerative. But  there  now  appears  to  be  no  doubt,  from  the  re- 
sults of  experience  abroad,  as  well  as  from  the  few  individual  ex- 
amples that  are  presented  in  this  city,  that  improved  dwellings  can 
be  made  to  pay  a  good  percentage,  and  that  the  stated  payment 
of  rents  is  much  more  certain  than  in  ordinary  tenant-houses. 

*  Sec  Uccommcndation  [Fourth],  page  lxxxix. 

f  An  illustration  of  the  practicability  and  success  of  individual  efforts  to  secure  tlio 
transformation  of  fever-breeding  tenements  into  healthy  dwellings  lias  been  in  progress  tho 
past  few  years  in  the  city  of  Edinburgh,  under  the  persistent  influence  and  labor  of  Dr. 
Foulis.    Sec  Dr.  Guirdncr's  Lectures  on  Air  and  Water,  Note  I. 


EEMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


cxxxi 


The  importance  of  at  once  undertaking,  by  some  practicable 
means,  to  secure  tbe  improvement  of  ventilation  in  the  class  of 
tenant-houses  that  have  become  fever-nests,  cannot  be  overestimated. 
Upward  of  five  hundred  of  these  crowded  abodes  are  at  the  pres- 
ent moment,  or  have  very  recently  been  visited  with  typhus  fever, 
and  a  still  larger  number  of  the  same  class  of  dwellings  have  been 
ravaged  by  small-pox  and  infantile  diseases  during  the  period  of 
our  sanitary  survey.  Besides  these,  there  are  between  two  and 
three  thousand  other  tenant-houses  that  are  utterly  unfit  for  human 
habitation  unless  their  ventilation  is  improved.  The  work  of 
cleansing,  which  is  required  in  and  about  most  of  this  class  of  ten- 
ant-houses, should  not  be  deferred  for  other  improvements,  but  the 
public  safety,  and  the  claims  of  humanity,  require  that  by  some 
means  tbe  ignorant  inhabitants  of  all  these  crowded  dwellings 
should  immediately  have  their  stifling  domiciles  ventilated,  and  at 
the  same  time  be  compelled  to  keep  them  free  from  local  filth. 
The  plans  by  which  this  first  step  shall  be  taken  in  the  hygienic 
improvement  of  the  common  tenant-houses,  ought  not  to  be  longer 
delayed  by  our  citizens.  Individual  effort  can,  at  least,  produce 
examples  of  the  needed  improvements,  both  in  old  houses  and  new, 
and  we  already  have  some  instructive  European  examples  of  the 
advantageous  results  of  associated  efforts  and  of  municipal  en- 
couragement in  promoting  this  class  of  improvements.*  It  is 
highly  desirable  that  the  dwelling  improvements  here  suggested 
should  be  commenced  by  private  enterprise  rather  than  longer  to 
postpone  them  in  the  hope  of  reformatory  laws,  or  of  corporate 
powers;  and  there  should  be  an  accurately  kept  record  of  the 
sanitary  as  well  as  the  pecuniary  results  of  such  works  of  improve- 
ment, with  tbe  design  to  guide  and  encourage  their  further  prose- 
cution. 

Considerations  of  public  safety  and  the  future  welfare  of  the  city 
demand  that  we  should  look  well  to  the  causes  that  are  inducing 
excessive  overcrowding,  and  sanitary  neglect  in  particular  districts 
of  the  city,  and  among  particular  classes  of  our  population.  Com- 
prehensive plans  and  practical  efforts  can  avert  serious  evils  that 

*  See  papers  by  Henry  Roberts,  Esq.,  on  the  Progress  and  Present  Aspect  of  the 
Movement  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Laboring  Classes  ;  and,  Examples  of  Efforts 
to  Provide  Improved  Dwellings  for  the  Working  Classes.  Transactions  of  Social  Science 
Association,  1860. 


cxxxii 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


are  now  rapidly  increasing,  and  which  will  not  easily  he  overcome 
if  longer  neglected.  The  causes  which  are  now  herding  nearly 
half  a  million  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  in  densely  packed 
tenant-houses,  that  are  unnecessarily  aggregated  upon  limited  areas, 
may  now  he  controlled ;  and,  although  this  metropolis  shall  double 
its  population  every  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  as  it  probably  will,  its 
public  health  may  nevertheless  be  securely  guarded  if  the  laws  of 
public  hygiene  have  sway  in  the  distribution  and  sanitary  regula- 
tion of  the  inhabitants  and  their  dwellings.  The  island  upon 
which  the  city  is  situated  embraces  about  thirty-five  square  miles, 
more  than  twenty  of  which  are  destined  to  be  occupied  by  the 
dwellings  of  its  inhabitants.*  Upon  this  very  limited  insular  area 
it  will  become  the  duty  of  the  sanitary  authorities  of  the  city  and 
the  State  to  guard  the  health  and  safety  of  a  population  exceeding 
three  millions  of  people  at  a  period  that  some  who  are  now  living 
may  yet  see.  And  shall  the  evils  which  now  prevail  in  particular 
districts  that  have  reached  the  maximum  rate  of  population  be  per- 
petuated and  entailed  upon  future  generations  when  the  whole 
city  will  be  thus  densly  populated  ?  The  present  and  the  future 
consequences  of  overcrowding  and  of  the  neglect  of  sanitary  regu- 
lations and  forethought  concerning  the  distribution  and  police  of 
tenant  dwellings  can  be  reliably  stated  and  solved  as  problems  in 
sanitary  science.  Upon  this  point  it  may  be  proper  to  present  an 
illustration  of  the  logical  and  mathematical  precision  with  which  a 
single  one  of  those  problems  is  wrought  out,  and  its  results  applied. 

Typhus  fever,  as  we  have  stated  in  a  preceding  section,  owes 
its  origin  to  overcrowding,  uncleanliness,  and  want  of  ventilation  ; 
and  it  is  preventable  by  means  of  fresh  air  and  cleansing.  This 
Bimple  problem  in  hygiene  has  been  repeatedly  wrought  out  in  tho 
dwelling  improvements  of  the  poorer  classes  in  the  great  cities  of 
England  ;  but  its  scientific  solution  has  been  clearly  stated  in  the 
following  terms :  "  Among  the  more  common  sources  of  typhus 


*  "  The  health  of  any  city  depends,  in  no  small  degree,  upon  the  distribution  of  tho 
inhabitants  over  an  area  of  sufficient  extent  to  admit  of  the  free  ventilation  of  every 
dwelling.  When  such  a  distribution  obtains,  and  attention  is  given  to  personal  and  do- 
mestic cleanliness,  a  population  of  200,000,  or  any  greater  number,  will  be  as  sccuro 
against  the  invasion  of  typhus  as  are  the  inmates  of  a  commodious,  cleanly,  and  well- 
aired  privute  dwelling."  Report  of  Committee  on  Public  Hygiene,  by  Joseph  M.  Smith, 
M.D.    Transaction  American  Medical  Association,  1850,  page  237. 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


cxxxm 


fever  are  the  effete  matters  of  the  human  body,  accumulated  and 
long  retained  in  dwelling  places.  The  facility  and  promptness 
with  which  such  accumulations  take  place  in  the  crowded  homes 
of  the  poor,  may  be  readily  explained  by  calculating  the  amount 
of  materials  excreted  from  the  lungs  and  shin  of  a  definite  number 
of  individuals  living  in  the  habitation.  .  .  .  The  mass  of  such 
matters  thrown  out  by  the  lungs  and  skin  by  a  family  of  ten  per- 
sons, within  their  dwelling,  where  their  average  time  indoors  is 
twelve  hours  each  day,  is  500  lbs.  every  month,  and  in  one  year  it 
is  6,083  lbs.  4  oz.  The  ejected  animal  matter  alone,  would  amount 
in  one  month  to  6  lbs.  3  ounces,  and  in  one  year  to  76  lbs.  .  .  . 
If  we  extend  this  mode  of  investigation  to  a  number  of  families,  re- 
siding in  contiguous  tenements,  we  shall  obtain  results  which  may 
forcibly  impress  the  public  hygienist.  .  .  .  The  inhabitants 
of  a  densely  populated  town  may  be  regarded  as  a  single  family, 
living  in  contiguous  or  narrowly  separated  apartments,  any  one  of 
which  may  be  as  certainly  and  speedily  rendered  infectious  as  the 
cells  of  a  prison."  *  By  experimental  researches  it  is  shown  that 
the  animal  exhalations  in  crowded  and  unventilated  apartments, 
are  of  themselves  so  poisonous  as  to  destroy  life,  and  that  the 
same  poison,  when  introduced  directly  into  the  blood,  or  long  in- 
haled, though  diluted,  produces  exhaustion  and  fever,  and  other 
marked  conditions  of  disease,  f    Even  the  casual  observer  could 

*  See  Report  on  Hygiene,  before  mentioned  (page  cxxxiv.,  note),  by  Joseph  M.  Smith, 
M.D.  The  concluding  remark  in  the  report  here  referred  to,  may  very  appropriately  be  quoted 
in  this  place.  The  reporter  states  that :  "  As  in  such  situations,  typhus  and  other  forms  of 
disease  unquestionably  originate,  it  follows  that  the  means  of  preventing  the  evil  is  to 
limit  the  number  of  inmates  in  apartments  of  given  dimensions ;  and  to  provide  dwellings 
with  suitable  apertures  and  sufficient  spaces  around  them  for  ventilation.  Such  sanitary 
measures,  with  attention  to  personal  cleanliness,  carried  into  effect  by  an  efficient  police, 
would  put  a  period  to  the  prevalence  of  the  disorders  referred  to,  and  at  the  same  time 
minister  a  wholesome  rebuke  to  the  mercenary  spirit  of  proprietors  and  landlords." — Re- 
port, Ibid.,  page  246. 

For  further  practical  statements  upon  the  subject  of  overcrowding  and  want  of  venti- 
lation as  the  causes  of  typhus  and  crowd-poisoning,  we  would  refer  to  the  Reports  of  the 
British  Poor  Law  Commissioners  ;  the  Metropolitan  Sanitary  Commission,  of  London ; 
the  Reports  of  Dr.  Southwood  Smith  and  Dr.  Duncan,  on  Fever  Districts,  etc,  ;  Dr.  J.  II. 
Griscom's  treatise  on  the  Uses  and  Abuses  of  Air  ;  A  Report  on  Cholera  in  England,  by 
Drs.  Baly  and  Gull ;  and  Drs.  D.  B.  Reid  and  E.  Harris  on  Ventilation  in  American 
Dwellings. 

\  For  valuable  statements  upon  this  subject,  see  Chapters  II.  and  XVIII.  Dr.  Win.  n. 
Hammond's  Treatise  on  Hygiene;  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Guy,  and  Dr.  Southwood  Smith,  in 
Report  of  Health  of  Towns  Commission,  vol.  I.,  and  the  ingenious  studies  of  Thomas 


cxxxiv 


KEPOKT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


not  fail  to  notice  the  outward  signs  by  which  this  crowd-poison 
manifests  itself  in  the  sallow  and  spiritless  inhabitants  of  unventi- 
lated  tenant-houses  and  cellars  in  our  city  ;  and  while  this  special 
cause  of  typhus,  and  of  that  vital  decay  grimly  termed  "  tenant- 
house  rot,"  is  doing  its  fatal  work  among  the  poor,  and  already  ex- 
tending its  fever-infection  after  the  manner  of  the  prison-passages 
and  neglected  prisoners  of  the  "  Old  Bailey,"  and  the  "  Black  As- 
sizes," the  same  neglect  of  ventilation  is  producing  consumption, 
scrofula,  rheumatism,  and  a  multitude  of  incurable  and  pauper- 
izing maladies  that  result  from  want  of  fresh  air.  The  definite 
knowledge  furnished  by  physiology  and  animal  chemistry,  enable 
the  sanitary  inquirer  to  estimate  the  period  in  which  the  lives  of 
the  occupants  in  crowded  apartments  would  become  extinct  in 
consequence  of  the  exhaustion  of  oxygen  and  the  poisoning  by 
carbonic  acid  and  the  animal  exhalations. 

In  many  of  the  tenant-houses  our  Sanitary  Inspectors  found 
the  allotment  of  space  and  air-supply  so  small  that,  but  for  a  pre- 
carious and  scanty  ingress  of  fresh  air  by  crevices  and  unopened 
windows,  whole  families  would  inevitably  perish  in  periods  of  from 
eight  to  thirty-six  hours.  In  some  domiciles  with  large  families, 
the  allotment  of  air-space  is  less  than  two  hundred  cubic  feet  to 
each  person,  and  we  know  that  in  1,487  of  the  tenant-houses  of 
our  city  the  pro-rata  allowance  of  cubical  space  to  each  inhab- 
itant is  less  than  400  feet.  These  houses  are  perpetual  fever-nests, 
and  it  is  believed  that  the  medical  evidence  which  has  been 
brought  forward  in  this  Report  should  warrant  compulsory  meas- 
ures to  effect  the  ventilation  of  that  class  of  dwellings  for  the 
poor  and  the  ignorant,  in  which  fever-poison  and  the  diseases  of 
overcrowding  are  now  generated.  If  there  is  neither  sanitary 
regulation  nor  law  that  can  be  applied,  still  we  may,  as  citizens 
and  philanthropists,  do  much  by  voluntary  agencies  to  induce  a 
proper  distribution  of  the  population,  and  to  secure  the  intro- 
duction of  needed  improvements  in  the  ventilation  and  sanitary 
care  of  the  crowded  homes  of  the  poor,  and  in  the  school-rooms, 
public  halls,  hospitals,  asylums,  and  workshops  where  there  now 
exist  great  and  needless  perils  to  health. 

Taylor,  Esq.,  concerning  air-poisoning  in  crowded  dwellings. — \M  Report  of  Metropolitan 
Sanitary  Commission.  For  BOinc  results  of  exact  chemical  inquiry  respecting  the  con- 
taminati'il  uir  of  dwellings  and  cities,  sec  Papers  by  Dr.  Angus  Smith  in  Quarterly 
Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society,  No.  43. 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


exxxv 


(3.)  Sanitary  Care  of  Contagious  and  Pestilential  Diseases. — 
(a.)  Upon  this  subject  the  Council  recommends  that  sanitary  regu- 
lations he  enforced,  with  heavy  penalties,  against  the  owners  and 
drivers  of  hacks  and  public  vehicles,  who  are  guilty  of  transport- 
ing persons  with  small-pox  without  notifying  the  proper  sanitary 
officer  of  the  city,  or  who  shall  allow  any  vehicle  that  has  been  so 
employed  to  be  publicly  exposed,  or  in  any  way  occupied  by  other 
persons  without  official  permission.  Also,  that  it  be  made  a  pun- 
ishable offence  for  any  person  or  thing  that  is  contaminated  with 
small-pox  to  be  unnecessarily  exposed,  so  as  in  any  manner  to 
spread  the  contagion  to  other  persons,  (b.)  Vaccination. — In 
reference  to  the  means  of  extending  and  insuring  the  benefits  of 
the  vaccine  protection  to  the  greatest  number,  and  to  all  classes  of 
persons,  it  is  recommended  that  some  properly  organized  effort  be 
made  by  the  citizens  of  New  York  to  prevent  the  neglect  of  vacci- 
nation, and  at  the  same  time  to  secure  the  adoption  of  a  proper  su- 
pervision and  care  of  its  practical  application.  From  the  period 
when  Jenner  perfected  his  great  discovery  by  devising  perfectly 
reliable  methods  of  applying  the  vaccine  lympb,  until  the  present 
time,  there  has  been,  on  the  part  of  vaccinators,  so  much  inatten- 
tion to  the  essential  conditions  of  success  in  so  selecting  and  apply- 
ing the  lymph  as  to  insure  its  protective  operation,  that  it  be- 
comes highly  important  to  have  the  supply,  the  distribution,  and 
the  (gratuitous)  application  of  the  vaccine  vhus  committed  to  some 
competent  supervision."  The  public  Dispensaries  of  this  city  have 
long  been  our  chief  and  best  sources  for  supplying  the  vaccine 
virus,  and  they  are  very  properly  the  accepted  agencies  of  its 
gratuitous  application,  and  did  the  people  of  the  city  and  of  the 
State  of  New  York  fully  understand  the  extent  of  the  benefit  that 
has  been  thus  conferred  by  these  excellent  institutions  in  this 
branch  only  of  the  services  they  render  to  the  public,  it  is  believed 
that  adequate  means  would  be  voluntarily  provided  to  place  their 

*  Practical  information  of  the  most  valuable  character  relating  to  the  prevailing  de- 
fects, and  the  essential  conditions  to  protective  success  in  vaccination,  has  been  accumu- 
lated by  Dr.  Simon,  Mr.  Cecly,  Mr.  Marson,  and  others  in  England,  and  by  Dr.  J.  P.  Loines, 
of  New  York.  As  Medical  Officer  to  the  Privy  Council,  Dr.  Simon  has  extended  the  in- 
quiry upon  this  subject  to  definite  results.  Of  these,  the  following  are  most  important : 
(1.)  The  "  very  imperfect  and  insufficient  way"  in  which  vaccinations  are  commonly  per- 
formed. (2.)  Imperfect  and  untrustworthy  results  following  the  employment  of  preserved 
lymph. — Sec  Sixth  Report  of  the  Medical  Officer  to  the  Privy  Council,  Appendix,  1863 


cxxxvi 


EEPOET  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


vaccine  department  upon  the  improved  basis  which  the  public  "wel- 
fare requires.  But  there  needs  to  be  a  skilled  supervision  of  public 
vaccination ;  and  by  every  moral  and  persuasive  agency,  if  not  by 
compulsory  measures,  every  person  in  the  community  should  re- 
ceive vaccination ;  and  in  a  city  like  New  York  it  is  peculiarly 
necessary  that  no  pains  be  spared  to  render  this  work  of  protection 
against  small-pox  as  effective  and  universal  as  possible.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  skill  and  supervision  that  are  required,  it  is  necessary 
that  a  system  of  house-to-house  inquiry  and  advice  be  established  in 
all  the  tenant-house  districts  of  the  city,  so  that  at  least  twice  in  each 
year  all  of  the  poor  and  ignorant  classes  shall  be  fully  insured 
by  competent  medical  authority.  But  in  the  opinion  of  most 
physicians,  and  of  many  of  the  ablest  judicial  minds,  public  vac- 
cination and  the  measures  for  rendering  it  universal,  constitute  one 
of  the  few  obligations  in  which  the  duty  of  the  individual  and  the 
duty  of  society  or  the  State  are  so  reciprocal  and  so  absolute,  that 
compulsory  regulations  requiring  it  are  not  inharmonious  Avith  the 
spirit  of  our  laws.  Whatever  views  may  be  entertained  upon  this 
question,  it  is  plainly  our  duty  to  employ  every  available  voluntary 
agency  to  render  the  benefits  of  vaccination  both  universal  and  in 
the  greatest  degree  trustworthy,  and  to  employ  every  means  of 
persuasion  and  encouragement  to  all  classes  in  the  community  to 
accept  the  benefits  thus  offered.  Hundreds  of  persons  are  killed 
by  small-pox  every  year  in  our  city  in  consequence  of  the  neglect 
of  vaccination,  and  the  skilful  management  of  its  application.  For 
such  deplorable  and  needless  waste  of  life,  the  intelligence  of  the 
community  should  be  held  morally  responsible. 
(e.)  Fevers.  Not  only  are  the  causes  which  primarily  originate  the 
typhus  and  typhoid  fevers  entirely  preventable,  but  the  various 
agencies  by  which  the  infection  from  the  sick  is  communicated  to 
other  persons  and  other  places  may  be  controlled,  and  the  diffusion 
of  the  fever-poison  wholly  restrained ;  the  instances  related  in  a 
previous  section  of  this  Report  sufficiently  illustrate  the  importance 
of  providing  a  system  of  sanitary  watchfulness  over  the  domiciles 
and  neighborhoods  where  typhus  fever  occurs.  Though  it  is  the 
offspring  of  overcrowding  and  want  of  pure  air  and  pure  aliments, 
its  power  of  infection  is  a  fearful  evil  in  populous  neighborhoods. 
The  local  causes  of  the  enteric  or  typhoid  fever  are  also  of  a  re- 
movable nature,  and  so  unsuspected  arc  they,  often,  that  the  pub- 


KEHEDIAL  MEASURES. 


cxxxvii 


lie  welfare  requires  there  should  always  be  competent  sanitary  care 
over  the  prevalence  of  this  fever,  in  order,  as  in  the  case  of  typhus, 
to  restrain  the  causes  of  its  further  extension,  and  at  the  same  time 
mitigate  its  severity  wherever  prevailing.  It  is  manifestly  neces- 
sary, therefore,  that  skillful  medical  experts  should  be  employed 
for  this  and  similar  services,  as  we  have  previously  recommended ; 
and,  in  addition  to  this,  we  deem  it  important  that  all  physicians 
and  benevolent  persons  who  attend  upon  families  suffering  from 
continued  fever,  in  either  form,  should  be  alive  to  the  importance 
of  inculcating  proper  instructions  concerning  the  removable  causes 
of  these  maladies,  and  that  they  should  employ  all  suitable  means 
to  procure  the  immediate  execution  of  needed  sanitary  improve- 
ments wherever  they  discover  the  presence  or  the  causes  of  these 
forms  of  fever.  From  the  commencement  of  the  work  undertaken 
by  the  Sanitary  Inspectors  they  voluntarily  assumed  this  kind  of 
duty ;  and  while  they  discovered  the  prevalence  of  deplorable 
ignorance  and  want  respecting  both  the  specific  and  the  localizing 
causes  of  fever,  they  served  as  the  willing  and  faithful  agents  of 
their  profession  and  the  Citizens'  Association,  in  imparting  needed 
counsel  and  restraining  the  increase  and  diffusion  of  fever-poisons. 
Commissioned  or  uncommissioned  by  Government,  such  services  by 
medical  experts  should  be  unceasingly  in  operation.* 

*  The  practical  value  of  skilled  inquiry  and  advice  respecting  the  preventable  causes 
of  fever  and  other  pestilential  diseases  has  been  well  illustrated  in  all  the  great  cities  which 
have  a  well-organized  medical  police  ;  but  in.  the  city  of  New  York  the  voluntary  visits 
and  advice  of  a  few  Dispensary  physicians,  has  been  the  nearest  approach  to  any  system 
of  sanitary  aid  and  protection  enjoyed  by  the  city,  excepting  only  the  temporary  plans  of 
medical  inspection  adopted  during  the  prevalence  of  cholera,  and  the  more  complete  meth- 
ods which  have  been  carried  into  operation  by  the  Council  of  Hygiene  and  its  corps  of 
medical  assistants.  However  valuable  such  voluntary  service  may  have  been,  the  absence 
of  power  to  enforce  any  of  the  advice  thus  gratuitously  given,  has  rendered  much  of  that 
counsel  of  no  effect  where  and  when  it  was  most  needed.  With  truth  does  the  Sanitary 
Inspector  of  the  Twentieth  District  testify,  as  the  result  of  experience,  that,  had  the  In- 
spectors been  invested  with  legal  authority,  they  "  could  easily  have  instituted  a  thorough 
sanitary  reform  throughout  the  city."   (See  Second  Part,  page  248.) 

With  typhus-fever  and  small-pox  in  nearly  ten  thousand  domiciles  of  the  poor  and  the 
ignorant,  where  every  circumstance  favored  the  localization  of  infection  and  the  propaga- 
tion of  disease,  and  where  gross  nuisances,  and  criminal  negligence  of  cleanliness,  ventila- 
tion, and  medical  police,  demanded  the  presence  of  intelligent  authority,  the  Sanitary  In- 
spectors justly  conclude  that  the  work  of  sanitary  improvement  should,  if  possible,  be 
enforced  by  legal  authority  ;  yet,  without  the  aid  of  such  authority,  they  have  given  such 
counsel  and  instruction  as  they  could,  and  have  occasionally  sought  the  aid  of  the  Metro- 


cxxxviii 


EEPOIiT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


There  are  various  other  sources  of  preventable  disease  of  a 
specific  character,  as  well  as  certain  causes  of  general  impairment 
of  the  public  health,  that  should  be  subjected  to  the  constant  sur- 
veillance of  a  competent  medical  police  in  our  city ;  and  concern- 

politan  Police.  The  records  of  many  a  fever-nest  during  this  survey  have  shown  that  the 
legislative  and  judicial  power  of  an  intelligent  Board  of  Health  was  as  indispensable  as  the 
executive  authority  of  the  Police.  In  some  instances  the  incursions  of  fever  into  crowded 
tenements  ravaged  every  family,  and  not  infrequently  broke  up  large  families,  making 
fatal  victims  of  the  parents,  and  pauperizing  their  surviving  dependents  ;  often  the  fever 
has  swept  through  the  front  and  rear  domiciles  of  populous  tenant-houses,  and  thence  has 
been  widely  diffused  by  the  constantly-changing  tenants.  At  the  same  time  the  local  con- 
ditions that  produce  the  typhoid  or  enteric  form  of  fever  exist  and  increase  unrestrained 
by  municipal  authorities  ;  yet  experience  and  sanitary  science  have  clearly  shown  that  the 
causes  of  fever  are  as  amenable  to  hygienic  regulations  and  the  control  of  a  sanitary  police 
as  are  the  transgressors  and  enemies  of  the  civil  laws  to  the  restraints  of  those  laws. 

Sanitary  inspection  and  the  faithful  execution  of  sanitary  laws  and  regulations  should, 
if  possible,  accompany  any  effort  that  may  be  put  forth  for  instructing  the  ignorant  classes 
in  the  duty  of  self-care  against  fever  and  pestilential  diseases.  We  have  shown  how  this 
duty  is  performed  by  the  metropolitan  officers  of  health  in  London  (See  page  cxv) ;  and  to 
illustrate  the  principle  upon  which  such  official  labors  can  be  organized,  the  following 
passage  is  quoted  from  a  report  by  Dr.  Simon,  on  the  organization  and  aims  of  sanitary 
inspection  and  inquiry  : 

"  In  order  that  any  Committee,  acting  for  sanitary  purposes  within  the  city,  shall  have 
reasonable  chance  of  success  in  its  endeavors  for  the  public  good,  the  following  means  of 
information  will  be  necessary  for  use : 

"  1.  That  an  account  should  be  kept,  corrected  year  by  year,  of  every  house  within  the 
city,  as  to  the  area  of  building,  the  number  of  floors,  rooms,  windows  ;  as  to  its  ventila- 
tion ;  as  to  its  drainage,  water  supply,  and  other  facilities  for  cleanliness  ;  as  to  its  method 
of  occupation,  and  number  of  inhabitants. 

"  2.  That  from  this  account  there  should  be  made  out,  at  least  twice  yearly,  a  list  of 
houses  and  streets  remaining  in  an  objectionable  sanitary  state  ;  and  a  list  also  of  such  as 
may  have  been  remedied  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  committee,  since  the  formation  of  their 
last  preceding  list. 

"  3.  That,  while  trades  injurious  to  health  or  offensive  to  their  neighborhood,  are  suffer- 
ed to  continue  within  the  city,  there  shall  be  given  periodical  reports  on  the  condition  of 
such  establishments,  to  the  end  that  they  be  maintained  so  as  to  be  least  detrimental  to 
the  public  health. 

"  4.  That  record  of  every  death  registered  as  occurring  in  the  population  of  the  city 
should  lie  before  the  committee ;  and 

"  6.  I  consider  it  quite  indispensable  that  they  should  likewise  receive  the  largest  and 
most  accurate  returns  which  can  be  procured  of  all  sickness  occurring  among  the  poorer 
classes  ;  and  particularly  in  respect  of  all  epidemic,  endemic,  and  infectious  disorders,  that 
the  medical  practitioners  who  communicate  the  fact  of  illness  should  likewise  report  tho 
existence  of  any  local  causes,  or  other  influences  of  general  operation,  which  have  tended 
to  produce,  or  arc  tending  to  continue,  such  illness. 

"  As  I  formerly  stated  by  anticipation,  so  now  I  repeat  from  experience,  that  nothing 
deserving  the  name  of  sanitary  administration  can  exist  in  the  city  without  accurate  pe- 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


cxxxix 


ing  some  of  them  it  is  highly  desirable  that  special  investigations 
should  be  made,  and  that  hygienic  reforms  should  be  suggested 
and  encouraged.  Among  the  more  important  of  these  should  be 
mentioned  the  sanitary  regulation  of  school-rooms  and  the  hours 
of  study ;  the  diseases  which  are  incident  to  ignorance  and  neglect 
of  sanitary  knowledge  in  various  trades  and  industrial  occupations, 
particularly  of  such  as  now  induce  pulmonary  consumption ;  the 
defects  and  misuses  of  the  quarantine  or  external  sanitary  system 
of  New  York ;  the  necessity  of  sanitary  care  for  syphilitic  and  cer- 
tain other  constitutional  diseases  among  the  ignorant  classes  ;  the 
removable  causes  of  excessive  infantile  mortality ;  the  import- 
ance of  improved  facilities  for  bathing  and  cleanliness  in  tenant- 
houses  ;  and  the  necessity  and  means  of  providing  better  nursing 
and  care  for  the  sick  poor. 

riodical  intelligence  of  all  such  sickness  at  least  as  comes  under  parochial  treatment,  or 
without  such  reports  on  the  local  sanitary  conditions  and  other  causes  of  disease  as  were 
desired  to  accompany  that  intelligence.  No  health  committee  can  exist  for  a  month  without 
it ;  nor  can  any  officer,  having  proper  respect  for  his  character,  consent  to  be  considered 
responsible  for  the  health  of  a  population  whose  illnesses  he  learns  only  from  their  post- 
humous record  in  the  death  register. 

"  During  the  recent  prevalence  of  cholera,  the  health  committee  established  a  system 
of  daily  reports.  What  needed  to  be  daily,  during  a  period  of  pestilence,  might  fitly  be- 
come a  weekly  communication  at  all  other  times.  ***** 
•  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"  Accordingly,  I  have  to  recommend  that  any  committee  which  may  undertake  the  ad- 
ministration of  sanitary  affairs  for  the  city  shall  be  furnished  as  completely  as  possible 
with  information  of  the  nature  I  have  specified. 

"  Another  element  to  which  I  think  it  necessary  to  advert,  in  connection  with  a  future 
sanitary  organization  for  the  city,  is  this  :  that  some  permanent  arrangement  should  be 
made,  by  which  the  maintenance  of  exterior  and  interior  cleanliness,  the  enforcement  of 
scavengers'  duties,  the  suppression  of  nuisances,  and  the  like,  should  be  brought  under 
habitual  and  systematic  surveillance;  one  by  which  all  breaches  of  your  present  or  future 
sanitary  regulations  may  be  quickly  detected,  and  may  be  visited  with  their  appropriate 
penalties  as  speedily  and  as  certainly  as  possible. 

"  It  is  in  respect  of  matters  of  this  sort,  and  of  such  only,  that  I  think  the  services  of 
the  police  force  might  usefully  be  employed.  Their  want  of  special  education,  and  their 
employment  in  other  duties,  are  circumstances  which  appear  to  me  quite  conclusive  for 
objecting  to  their  utilization  as  sanitary  reporters.  But  while  I  entertain  the  opinion  that 
their  employment  in  the  latter  direction  would  be  both  fruitless  and  inconvenient,  I  would 
submit  that  their  numbers  and  their  diffusion  through  the  city  qualify  them  well  to  act 
against  all  causes  of  nuisance,  as  they  act  against  other  offenders,  both  detectively  and 
preventively." — Report  on  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  the  City  of  London,  for  the  year 
1848-'49.    By  Joiin  Simon,  M.D.,  Officer  of  Health. 


cxl 


REPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


In  concluding  this  Report  we  would  state  that  many  of  the 
subjects  to  which  it  relates  are  of  a  character  so  plainly  designating 
them  as  legitimately  requiring  the  interposition  of  legislative 
and  police  control  that  it  has  appeared  inexpedient  for  the  Council 
to  enter  upon  any  detailed  description  of  the  needed  remedial 
measures.  The  objects  sought  by  the  Council  will  have  been  at- 
tained if  its  sanitary  survey  of  the  city,  and  its  analysis  and  expo- 
sition of  the  hygienic  wants  of  the  population,  should  lead  to  a 
more  definite  and  popular  appreciation  of  the  value  and  necessity 
of  sanitary  regulations  and  sanitary  works,  and  to  a  general  regard 
for  the  Laws  of  Health. 

The  voluntary  labors  of  inspection  and  inquiry,  upon  which 
this  Report  is  based,  were  prompted  scarcely  less  by  deep  convic- 
tions of  the  claims  of  humanity  and  of  society  at  large,  than  by 
the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  Citizens'  Association  of  New  York, 
for  whose  consideration  it  is  now  submitted.  With  an  obvious 
necessity  for  such  efforts  by  voluntary  agencies;  with  an  in- 
creasing prevalence  and  neglect  of  the  removable  sources  of  disease, 
particularly  of  fevers,  small-pox,  and  other  fatal  maladies ;  with 
the  fearful  overcrowding  and  sanitary  neglect  of  the  tenant-houses, 
and  the  ignorant  and  dependent  classes  of  the  city  ;  and  with  the 
claims  of  our  vast  armies,  that  its  brave  men  should  neither  en- 
counter needless  dangers  from  communicable  maladies  at  this  chief 
mart  of  transportation,  nor  themselves  become  the  agents  and 
victims  of  epidemics  that  so  commonly  follow  in  the  path  of  wars  ; 
together  with  the  growing  evils  of  a  defective  sanitary  government 
of  the  city,  the  rapid  increase  of  our  population,  and  a  corre- 
sponding increase  of  its  hygienic  necessities  and  perils,  rendered  it 
plainly  our  duty  to  respond  to  the  request  of  our  fellow-citizens  in 
as  thorough  and  practical  a  manner  as  possible. 

With  as  little  delay  as  practicable,  the  Council  and  its  corps  of 
Sanitary  Inspectors  entered  upon  the  proper  hygienic  inquiries  that 
should  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  advice  and  cooperation  which  the 
Association  and  the  public  might  justly  require.  The  plan  of  these 
inquiries  was  comprehensive  and  definite.  The  methods  of  the 
undertaking  have  consisted  in  the  organization  and  distribution  of 
labors  which,  as  physicians,  we  believed  to  be  both  practicable  and 
necessary  as  the  basis  of  sanitary  works  in  this  city.  Of  course, 
in  so  short  a  period,  and  with  other  duties  pressing  upon  our  time 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


cxli 


and  attention,  it  lias  been  impossible  to  present  as  complete  results 
as  the  importance  of  such  subjects  of  inquiry  demand ;  yet  in 
some  of  the  inspection  districts,  and  upon  some  of  the  more  urgent- 
ly important  subjects  of  investigation,  we  have  reached  such  re- 
sults as  most  need  to  receive  the  public  attention.  In  some  dis- 
tricts, as  in  the  Third,  the  Fourth,  the  Eleventh,  the  Twelfth,  the 
Eighteenth,  the  Twentieth,  and  the  Twenty-fifth,  it  was  found  practi- 
cable to  give  more  special  completeness  to  the  inquiries  concerning 
the  localizing  causes  of  disease,  as  well  as  regarding  the  attendant 
physical  and  social  wants,  than  in  some  of  the  others  ;*  but  in  all 
of  the  districts  there  has  been  a  vast  amount  of  laborious  research, 
of  which  the  evidence  cannot  be  presented  in  this  Report. 

Definite  information  respecting  the  nature,  the  causes,  the  ex- 
tent, and  the  circumstances  of  preventable  disease,  excessive  mor- 
tality, social  debasement,  and  pauperism  in  our  midst,  cannot  fail 
to  produce  convictions  of  public  duty ;  and  it  is  for  this  purpose, 
and  not  from  any  willingness  to  expose  the  shame  of  our  city  or 
the  woes  of  ignorance  and  poverty,  that  we  allow  many  disagreeable 
details  of  illustration  to  enter  into  this  Report.  To  the  physicians 
who  have  been  engaged  in  these  labors,  the  ultimate  results  of  their 
inquiries,  and  of  the  sanitary  works  which  they  see  to  be  necessary 
for  the  redemption  of  the  dependent  and  suffering  classes  from 
pauperizing  and  fatal  burdens,  and  which,  as  physicians,  they 
equally  well  know  to  be  vitally  important  to  the  public  welfare, 
seem  to  be,  and  they  certainly  are,  too  momentous  to  be  postponed 
for  the  possible  enactment  of  compulsory  laws  which  may  yet  be  se- 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  state  that,  as  the  primary  object  of  the  Sanitary  Sur- 
vey was  the  acquisition  of  definite  and  complete  information  regarding  the  hygienic  condi- 
tion of  every  street  and  block  in  the  city,  the  special  reports  which  the  Council  now  sub- 
mits as  a  body  of  evidence  by  no  means  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the  labors  performed 
and  the  records  made  by  the  individual  inspectors.  Particular  success  in  completing  cer- 
tain branches  of  sanitary  inquiry  was,  of  course,  to  be  attained  only  in  the  smaller  or  the 
more  sparsely-inhabited  districts,  as  for  example  in  the  Fourth  Ward.  In  that  district  the 
inspector  and  his  assistant  were  enabled  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  the  Council  very  fully 
in  regard  to  social  statistics,  overcrowding,  and  the  aggregation  and  neglect  of  tenant- 
houses,  in  their  relation  to  life  and  health.  Similarly  thorough,  though  less  complete, 
studies  in  this  and  other  branches  of  the  inquiry,  have  been  made  in  several  districts,  but, 
for  obvious  reasons,  the  social  and  sanitary  chart,  which  we  have  caused  to  be  prepared 
to  illustrate  a  particular  branch  of  inquiry  in  a  single  district,  may  serve  as  a  general  illus- 
tration of  the  purposes  and  the  thoroughness  of  the  survey.  [Sec  the  Social  and  Sanitary 
Chart,  in  Fourth  District  Report,  Second  Part.] 


cxlii 


KEPORT  OF  COUNCIL  OF  HYGIENE. 


cured  under  the  operation  of  increased  popular  intelligence  or 
under  the  terror  of  disastrous  epidemics.  In  the  spirit  of  their 
vocation,  as  observers  and  interpreters  of  the  laws  of  health  and  dis- 
ease, they  would  invoke  the  intelligence  and  public  concern  of  their 
fellow-citizens  to  serious  consideration  and  action  upon  the  facts 
submitted  in  this  Report,  and  would  urge  that  the  most  needed 
and  practicable  plans  of  voluntary  works  of  sanitary  improvement 
be  speedily  undertaken,  and  that  earnest  and  unremitting  efforts 
be  made  to  secure  the  adoption  and  success  of  the  sanitary  regula- 
tions, which  are  necessary  for  the  protection  of  life  and  health. 
Persistent  and  wisely-directed  efforts,  the  diffusion  of  popular  in- 
formation, together  with  the  influence  of  successful  examples  of 
sanitary  works,  and  the  operation  of  sanitary  regulations  in  special 
instances,  may  eventually  give  popular  success  to  the  duties  and 
the  laws  of  a  good  sanitary  government. 

Earnestly  as  we  would  strive  to  secure  the  application  of  ade- 
quate laws  for  the  improvement  and  protection  of  the  public 
health,  we  would,  with  equal  earnestness,  and  for  the  same  ends, 
urge  that  individual  and  organized  efforts  be  put  forth,  for  all  these 
agencies  must  eventually  cooperate  in  giving  to  the  population  of 
this  city  that  protection  to  life  and  health  which  an  enlightened 
people  claim  to  be  due  to  all  classes  of  society.  Though  now,  in 
the  midst  of  a  national  struggle  against  a  terrible  rebellion,  the 
work  of  local  improvements  and  the  progress  of  sanitary  science 
need  not  and  must  not  be  wholly  interrupted.  The  mental  activity 
and  popular  energies  that  characterize  the  present  period  need  to 
be  directed  to  lasting  and  life-saving  works  that  shall  strengthen 
the  present  and  benefit  all  future  generations.  "  Peace  has  its 
victories  as  well  as  war,"  says  one  of  the  most  practical  philanthro- 
pists of  our  day ;  "  and  it  also  has  its  unnecessary  losses  from  disease 
and  death ;  only  the  losses  of  peace  are  greater  than  those  of  war, 
because  they  are  daily  and  constant."  * 

Whatever  may  be  the  circumstances  that  favor  or  retard  the 
commencement  and  progress  of  sanitary  works,  it  appears  to  be 
plainly  the  duty  of  enlightened  citizens  to  enter  upon  comprehen- 
sive and  untiring  efforts  that  shall  ultimately  overcome  the  evils 
which  we  have  described  in  this  Iieport.    Come  what  events  there 


*  Florence  Nightingale  :  Sanitary  Reform  under  Lord  Herbert. 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


cxliii 


may  to  affect  the  physical,  social,  political,  or  commercial  interests 
of  the  city,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  Sanitary  Science  and  its 
preventive  skill  are  of  more  value  to  our  fellow  beings  and  to  this 
city  than  all  the  curative  arts  of  medicine  and  surgery ;  that  the 
evils  which  now  bear  so  heavily  upon  the  poorer  classes  already 
seriously  endanger  the  sanitary  safety  of  all  other  classes,  and 
multiply  the  social  perils  and  public  burdens  of  the  city ;  that  a 
practical  and  comprehensive  application  of  sanitary  knowledge  in 
specific  works  of  improvement  is  both  necessary  and  competent  to 
rescue  the  city  from  existing  evils,  and  to  guard  it  from  the  far 
greater  perils  that  are  impending ;  that  a  careful  regard  for  human 
life  and  welfare  is  an  unerring  index  of  social  advancement ;  and 
that  it  is  an  imperative  demand  of  civilization  and  a  duty  to  hu- 
manity to  seek  out  and  restrain  the  preventable  sources  of  disease, 
debasement,  and  pauperism,  which,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  are 
found  closely  allied.  To  show  by  what  agencies  and  to  what  ex- 
tent human  life  and  the  public  health  in  this  city  are  needlessly 
and  wrongfully  endangered,  and  to  point  out  some  of  the  most 
important  means  of  sanitary  improvement,  we  submit  this  Report 
with  the  accompaning  body  of  Evidence. 

JOSEPH  M.  SMITH,  M.D.,  President, 

WILLAED  PAEKEK.  ED.,  Vice-President, 

VALENTINE  MOTT.  M.D., 

EDWAED  DELAFIELD,  M.D., 

ALONZO  CLARK.  M.D., 

GUEDON  BUCK,  M.D., 

JAMES  E.  WOOD,  M.D., 

JAMES  ANDEESON,  M.D., 

CHAELES  HENSCHEL,  M.D, 

ALFEED  C.  POST,  M.D., 

ISAAC  E.  TATLOE,  M.D., 

JOHN  W.  DEAPEE,  M  l  > . 

E.  OGDEN  DOEEMUS,  ED, 

STEPHEN  SMITH,  M.D., 

HENEY  D.  BULKLEY,  M.D., 

ELISHA  HAEEIS,  M.D.,  Secretary, 

Members  of  the  Council. 


EVIDENCE. 


REPORTS 

OF  THE 

SANITARY  INSPECTORS, 
i 


SANITARY  INSPECTORS  AND  THEIR  DISTRICTS. 


FIRST  DISTRICT, 
SECOND  DISTRICT, 
THIRD  DISTRICT,    (Section  A,) 
THIRD  DISTRICT,    (Section  B,) 
FOURTH  DISTRICT, 
FIFTH  DISTRICT,    (Section  A,) 
FLFTH  DISTRICT,   (Section  £,) 
SIXTH  DISTRICT, 
SEVENTH  DISTRICT, 
EIGHTH  DISTRICT, 
NINTH  DISTRICT, 
TENTH  DISTRICT, 
ELEVENTH  DISTRICT, 
TWELFTH  DISTRICT, 
THIRTEENTH  DISTRICT, 
FOURTEENTH  DISTRICT, 
FHTEENTH  DISTRICT, 
SIXTEENTH  DISTRICT, 
SEVENTEENTH  DISTRICT, 
EIGHTEENTH  DISTRICT, 
NINETEENTH  DISTRICT, 
TWENTIETH  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY-FIRST  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY-SECOND  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY-TniRD  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY-FOURTn  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY  FLFTH  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY-SIXTH  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY-SEVENTn  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY-EIGHTH  DISTRICT, 
TWENTY-NINTH  DISTRICT, 


Dr.  Joseph  A.  Monell,  Sanitai-y  Inspector. 
Dr.  Isaac  L.  Millsfaugii,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Hampton  Harriot,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  B.  M.  Keeney,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Ezra  R.  Pulling,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Everardus  B.  Warner,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  James  W.  Purdy,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Wm.  F.  TnoMS,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  P.  Nolan,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  J.  T.  Kennedy,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Oscar  G.  Smith,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  JonN  C.  Acheson,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  James  L.  Brown,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  F.  A.  Burrall,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Robert  Newman,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  E.  W.  Derby,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  James  Ross,  Sani(a>y  Inspector. 
Dr.  W.  C.  Hunter,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Guido  Furman,  Sanitary  Inspector 
Dr.  H.  M.  Field,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  J.  R.  Mansfield,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  E.  II.  Janes,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  James  L.  Little,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  R.  L.  Parsons,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Ellsworth  Eliot,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Robert  Stewart,  Sa/iitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  J.  Lewis  Smith,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  II.  Mortimer  Brush,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  Alexander  Hadden,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  L.  A.  Rodenstein,  Sanitary  Inspector. 
Dr.  J.  O.  Farrinoton,  Sanitary  Inspector. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

FIRST  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


JOSEPH   A.   MONELL,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — This  district  is  bounded  north  by  Reade  Street,  east  by 
Broadway,  south  and  west  by  the  North  River.  It  comprises  part  of  the 
First  and  the  whole  of  the  TJiird  Ward. 

Topography. — That  part  of  the  district  lying  between  Greenwich 
Street  and  the  North  River  is  nearly  level,  and  is  but  Uttle  elevated 
above  tide-water.  The  portion  east  of  Greenwich  Street  rises  gradually 
and  uniformly  until  it  reaches  the  height  of  20  to  35  feet  above  tide-water 
at  the  line  of  Broadway.  The  former,  or  level  portion,  is  wholly  of  made 
ground,  lying  almost  entirely  outside  of  the  original  shore-line  ;  that  line 
very  nearly  corresponding  with  Greenwich  Street,  but  at  some  points 
reaching  further  eastwardly.  This  artificially-formed  portion  of  the  dis- 
trict was  mainly  filled  up  with  earth  taken  from  the  more  elevated  sec- 
tions of  the  island.  The  portion  of  the  district  east  of  Greenwich  Street 
is  composed  of  natural  sandy  alluvium,  and,  from  its  porosity  and  eleva- 
tion, constitutes  a  favorable  basis  for  the  location  of  human  habitations  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  the  artificially-formed,  or  level  portion,  from  its 
slight  elevation  above  tide-water,  is  constantly  saturated  with  moisture,  so 
that  cellars  and  basements  of  dwellings  erected  on  it  are  damp  and  in- 
salubrious, and  at  times,  during  very  high  tides,  wholly  untenantable ; 
while,  from  its  too  level  character,  its  drainage  is  imperfect  and  its  gutters 
constantly  filled  with  filth.  The  influence  of  these  topographical  condi- 
tions upon  the  public  health  is  chiefly  evident  in  two  important  particulars  : 
Firstly,  the  dampness  of  basements  and  cellars  located  upon  made  ground 
of  so  moist  a  nature,  is  largely  productive  of  rheumatic  and  other  inflam- 
matory and  chronic  disorders  in  those  who  from  necessity  or  otherwise 
are  forced  to  occupy  them ;  and,  secondly,  in  those  level  streets  the 
accumulation  of  street  filth,  garbage,  and  house-slops,  is  much  more  rapid 


4 


REPORT  OF  THE  FIEST  SANITARY  DISTEICT. 


than  in  those  streets  where  an  inclined  grade  insures  good  drainage  ;  and, 
as  a  consequence,  they  emit  emanations  most  intolerable  to  the  senses 
and  very  highly  deleterious  to  health. 

Streets. — The  streets  of  this  district  are  quite  regular  in  their 
arrangement,  particularly  in  its  upper  half.  They  are,  for  the  most  part, 
straight  and  of  good  width.  The  exceptions  are  Morris,  Eector,  Thames, 
Carlisle,  Cedar,  Temple,  Edgar  Streets,  and  Trinity  Place,  which  are  so 
narrow  as  barely  to  afford  space  for  ordinary  vehicles  to  pass  each  other. 
Greenwich,  Washington,  and  West  Streets  run  nearly  due  north  and  south, 
parallel  with  the  North  River  and  with  each  other.  Broadway  diverges 
somewhat  from  the  direction  of  these  streets  in  a  more  northeasterly  course. 
The  remaining  streets,  except  Trinity  Place,  College  Place,  Church  Street, 
and  Temple  Street,  traverse  the  district  at  right  angles  with  Broad- 
way. 

Broadway  is  paved  with  the  Russ  pavement,  which  is  superior  to  all 
other  kinds  in  durability  and  cleanhness,  but  it  has  unfortunately  become 
so  smooth  that  it  affords  an  unsafe  footing  for  horses.  Battery  Place, 
Fulton,  Greenwich,  Chambers,  and  parts  of  Washington,  West,  and  Reade 
Streets,  and  Park  Place,  are  paved  with  Belgian  pavement,  which  has  most 
of  the  advantages  of  the  Russ  pavement  without  its  slippery  character. 
Cortlandt  Street  was  partly  paved  witli  iron  blocks,  but  these  have  in 
part  been  replaced  with  Belgian  blocks.  The  remaining  streets  and 
alleys  of  the  district  are  paved  with  cobble  stone,  and  in  several  places 
have  been  much  broken  up  during  the  past  summer. 

This  kind  of  pavement  has  two  marked  disadvantages  :  In  the  first 
place,  from  its  instability  it  is  frequently  out  of  repair,  thereby  greatly  im- 
peding the  passage  of  heavy  loads.  In  the  second  place,  cobble-stone 
pavement,  from  its  greater  inequality,  retains  much  more  street  filth  and  is 
with  more  difficulty  cleaned  than  Belgian  pavement,  and  in  a  proportion- 
ate degree  the  atmosphere  is  rendered  impure.  This  has  been  the  case  in 
a  marked  degree  during  the  past  summer  in  Morris,  Rector,  Carlisle 
Streets  and  parts  of  Washington  Street,  all  of  which  have  been  much  of 
the  time  in  a  very  filthy  state.  Although  this  is  true  of  all  streets 
where  a  tenant-house  population  is  found,  whatever  the  kind  of  pavement, 
still  the  difference  between  the  cobble  stone  and  Belgian  pavement  in 
the  above-mentioned  particulars  has  been  too  marked  to  escape  the  notice 
of  the  most  casual  observer. 

Sewerage. — All  the  principal  streets  of  the  district  aro  provided 
with  sewcra,  except  hero  and  there  a  short  spaco  not  essential  to  the. 
general  system.  These  sewers  empty  into  the  river  between  high  and 
low  water.    Whilo  the  street  sewerage  of  the  district  is  thus  general, 


THE  SQUARES. — THE  INHABITANTS. 


5 


there  are  still  numerous  buildings  that  have  no  sewer  connections,  and 
many  of  these  are  dwellings.  The  absence  of  such  sewerage  is  a  serious 
evil,  as  without  it  drainage  is  imperfect,  and  pure  air  an  impossibility. 
Waste  water  and  house-slops  of  all  kinds  are  deposited  in  the  adjacent 
gutters  to  corrupt  the  atmosphere,  while  the  contents  of  privies  accumu- 
late for  months,  and  add  their  quota  to  the  effluvia.  Several  of  the  most 
populous  tenant-houses  along  Greenwich,  "Washington,  and  their  inter- 
secting streets,  are  thus  deficient. 

Squares. — The  squares  of  the  district  number  66,  of  which  about  a 
fourth,  including  all  those  lying  wholly  upon  the  elevated  ground  adjacent 
to  Broadway,  are  in  good  sanitary  condition,  one  quarter  in  a  mixed 
sanitary  condition.  These  squares  are  on  the  easterly  side  of  Greenwich 
Street.  They  are  in  part  located  on  made  or  reclaimed  ground,  and  in 
part  on  dry,  elevated  soil,  and  consist  partly  of  new,  and  partly  of  old 
buildings,  many  of  which  are  tenant-houses,  having  all  the  worst  features 
of  their  class.  The  remaining  squares  are  in  a  bad  sanitary  condition, 
and  include  all  those  situated  on  the  made  ground  west  of  Greenwich 
Street.  The  insalubrious  condition  of  these  squares  is  due  to  their  loca- 
tion on  ground  reclaimed  by  "  filling  in  "  with  all  the  loose  refuse  of  the 
city.  The  basements  are  damp  and  badly  drained,  and  the  streets  are 
filthy. 

Inhabitants. — The  inhabitants  of  the  district  are  largely  of  foreign 
birth.  It  would  be  safe  to  estimate  that  about  one-half  are  of  Irish  na- 
tionality, one-quarter  German,  and  the  remainder  Americans,  Swedes, 
Danes,  &c.  Of  the  resident  population,  there  are  but  few  whose  means 
enable  them  to  live  without  employment  of  some  kind.  In  the  absence 
of  an  accurate  census,  we  conclude  that  two-thirds  are  laborers  and  me- 
chanics with  their  families  ;  the  balance  are  composed  of  retail  shop- 
keepers, as  grocers  and  dram-shop  keepers,  clothing  merchants,  shoe- 
dealers,  butchers,  and  bakers,  and  keepers  of  hotels,  sailors  and  emigrant 
boarding-houses,  and  brothels.  There  are  but  few  of  the  educated  and 
refined  class,  and  but  little  ostentatious  wealth.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
general  characteristics  are,  a  medium  grade  of  intelligence  and  a  com- 
mendable amount  of  industry,  intermixed  largely  with  ignorance,  deprav- 
ity, pauperism,  and  dissipation  of  the  most  abandoned  character.  Quite 
a  large  element  of  the  population  here  may  be  termed  floating,  consisting 
of  travellers,  emigrants,  sailors,  and  vagabonds  without  a  habitation  and 
almost  without  a  name. 

An  illustration  of  the  incongruous  crowding,  and  the  perilous  charac- 
teristics of  a  large  class  of  the  floating  population  that  strangely  mingles 
with  the  more  permanent  residents  of  this  lower  district  of  the  city, 


6 


REPORT  OF  THE  FIRST  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


chanced  to  be  presented  upon  occasion  of  a  visit  of  inspection  here  by  a 
member  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene,  last  summer. 

On  reaching  a  certain  squalid  old  tenant-house  in  "Washington  Street, 
that  gentleman  remarked :  "  We  shall  find  the  footprints  of  typhus 
among  the  residents  of  this  rookery."  Passing  from  apartment  to  apart- 
ment  until  we  reached  the  upper  garret,  we  found  every  place  crowded 
with  occupants,  one  room  only  5}X  9  feet,  and  a  low  ceiling,  containing 
two  adults  and  a  daughter  of  twelve  years,  and  the  father  working  as  a 
shoemaker  in  the  room ;  while  in  the  upper  garret  were  found  a  couple 
of  dark  rooms  kept  by  haggard  crones,  who  nightly  supplied  lodgings  to 
twenty  or  thirty  vagabonds  and  homeless  persons.  This  wretched  hiding- 
place  of  men,  women,  and  girls,  who  in  such  places  become  daily  more 
vicious  and  more  wretched,  had  long  been  a  hot-bed  of  typhus,  seven  of 
the  lodgers  having  been  sent  to  the  fever-hospital,  while  permanent  resi- 
dents in  the  apartments  on  lower  floors  had  become  infected  with  the  same 
malady,  and  some  had  died.  We  fully  agree  in  the  opinion  then  ex- 
pressed by  that  member  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene,  that  a  Model  Lodging 
House  in  the  First  District  has  become  a  sanitary  as  well  as  a  moral  ne- 
cessity. 

Buildings. — The  buildings  of  this  district,  of  which  there  are  1,518, 
present  a  great  diversity  of  size,  style,  and  character.  Here  are  the 
dilapidated  structures  or  mouldering  ruins  of  buildings  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years  old,  side  by  side  with  the  proudest  triumphs  of  modern  archi- 
tecture. There  stands  the  humble  domicile,  a  single  story  in  height,  in  the 
shadow  of  vast  piles  that  tower  grandly  toward  the  heavens  ;  old  family 
mansions  that  fifty  years  ago  were  the  homes  of  wealth  and  luxury,  are 
here  found  in  juxtaposition  with  those  abominations  of  our  city,  modern 
built  tenant-houses ;  the  old  family  residences  are  themselves  now  fre- 
quently converted  into  tenant-houses. 

Of  strictly  private  residences  occupied  by  a  single  family,  there  aro 
but  very  few.  Boarding-houses  for  sailors  and  emigrants,  small  hotels, 
and  buildings  occupied  in  part  for  business,  and  in  part  by  one,  two,  or 
three  families,  but  not  enumerated  as  tenant-houses,  are  somewhat  nu- 
merous. They  may  be  estimated  as  constituting  about  one-half  of  the 
buildings  marked  as  dwellings.  This  class  of  dwellings  are  mostly  of 
considerable,  and  some  of  them  of  great  age.  They  are  still  for  tho  most 
part  in  a  fair  sanitary  condition  ;  their  apartments  arc  usually  spacious 
and  airy ;  their  halls  and  passages  of  good  width,  well  lighted  and  well 
ventilated.  These  buildings  arc  almost  never  in  the  rear ;  their  occupants 
arc  of  a  class  that  observe  sanitary  laws  to  a  crcditablo  extent  in  the 
care  of  their  domiciles.    There  arc  wanting,  however,  some  of  tho  con- 


TENANT-HOUSES. 


1 


veuiences  of  modern  construction,  as,  for  example,  they  are  not  well  supplied 
with  water,  lavatory  conveniences,  interior  water-closets,  baths,  ranges,  &c. 

Tenant-Houses  — Of  tenant-houses  there  are  241  in  this  district,  24 
of  which  are  rear  buildings.  The  great  majority  of  these  houses  are  old 
family  residences,  many  of  which  were  once  of  the  better  class.  As  a 
rule  this  class  of  tenant-houses  is  in  better  accordance  with  hygienic 
laws  than  those  of  modern  construction  and  originally  designed  as  such. 
They  have  fewer  and  larger  apartments,  higher  ceilings,  larger  dormito- 
ries, wider  and  better  lighted  and  ventilated  halls,  stairways  and  passages, 
and  their  latrines,  although  less  frequently  sewered,  are  further  removed 
to  the  rear  of  the  domicile.  There  are  exceptions,  however,  to  the  rule,  as 
in  cases  where  these  old  buildings  have  been  repartitioned  and  cut  up  into 
numerous  small-sized  and  ill-ventilated  apartments  ;  and  where  this  is  the 
case  they  present  the  very  worst  features  of  insalubrity  to  be  found  in 
any  class. 

In  the  construction  of  many  modern  tenant-houses,  it  would  appear 
that  hygienic  laws  and  sanitary  requirements  have  been  estimated  as  of 
only  secondary  importance,  the  great  problem  being  how  to  domicile  the 
greatest  number  of  families  on  a  given  area.  And  in  the  practical  solu- 
tion of  that  problem  in  this  district,  lies  the  great  overshadowing  cause 
of  insalubrity,  before  which  all  others  combined  sink  into  insignificance. 

The  most  marked  feature  of  the  tenant-houses  is  the  small  size  of 
their  apartments,  whereby  ensues  overcrowding  in  each  family.  The  com- 
mon mode  of  arranging  them  is  as  follows :  On  a  lot  of  ordinary  size, 
25  X  100  feet,  will  be  erected  a  front  house  25  X  50,  and  a  rear  house  25  X  25 
with  a  court  25  X  25,  and  frequently  less,  in  which  are  usually  located 
hydrant,  cesspool,  and  privy.  These  houses  are  commonly  five  and  fre- 
quently six  stories  in  height  above  the  basement.  The  principal  rooms, 
of  which  there  are  four  to  each  floor,  occupy  the  width  of  the  building, 
front  and  rear,  with  small  bedrooms  between,  one  to  each  main  room. 
This  arrangement  gives  accommodation  to  four  families  on  each  floor, 
making  in  a  six-story  building  twenty-four  families.  Each  family  aver- 
ages five  members,  and  frequently  more,  as  it  is  common  for  the  occu- 
pants of  these  houses  to  take  lodgers.  In  this  arrangement  each  person 
has  a  little  over  10  square  feet  of  ground  area,  and  480  cubic  feet  of  air 
space  in  the  whole  house.  In  the  apartments  the  allowance  of  air  space 
is  317  cubic  feet,  and  in  the  dormitories  but  89  feet  to  each  person.  This 
is  the  average,  but  there  are  many  exceptions  where  the  overcrowding 
far  exceeds  this.  In  addition,  the  facilities  for  ventilating  these  small 
apartments  are  often  wholly  confined  to  doors  and  windows,  hall-ways 
and  passages  are  dark  and  narrow,  and  the  house  is  often  surrounded  by 


8 


REPORT  OF  THE  FIRST  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


others  of  greater  height,  shutting  out  the  cheerful  and  health-giving  influ- 
ences of  sunlight  and  air. 

The  common  mode  of  disposing  of  garbage  and  house-slops  adds  still 
further  to  the  insalubrious  influences  by  which  these  dismal  abodes  are 
surrounded.  Whether  cesspools  and  garbage  boxes  are  provided  in  the 
majority  of  tenant-houses  or  not,  the  refuse  is  thrown  into  the  street,  where 
it  emits  the  most  nauseous  odors,  and  contaminates  the  atmosphere  of  the 
locality.  In  the  rear,  also,  the  inevitable  but  much-abused  privy  may  be 
found,  often  at  the  very  door  of  the  house,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
in  the  worst  condition  possible.  The  seats  and  floor  are  covered  with 
filth,  emitting  noxious  gases.  These  "  necessaries  "  afford  from  their  condi- 
tion no  comfort,  and  from  their  location  no  feeling  of  retirement. 

A  marked  example  illustrating  many  of  the  above-mentioned  features 
of  insalubrity  may  be  seen  in  Washington  Street,  near  its  lower  termina- 
tion, in  which  a  row  of  the  worst  class  of  tenant-houses  stands  in  rear  of 
those  of  similar  character,  covering  three  ordinary-sized  lots.  One  of 
the  front  houses  is  four  stories  in  height,  the  other  two  three  stories  each.* 
The  first  floor  of  one  of  the  latter  is  used  as  a  stable  ;  that  of  the  other 
two  is  occupied  by  groggeries  of  the  lowest  class.  The  upper  floors  of 
all  these  buildings  are  divided  into  numerous  tenements,  most  of  which 
are  small,  and  deficient  in  light  and  ventilation.  The  rear  row  consists 
of  three-story  buildings,  uniform  in  size  and  arrangement.  The  first 
floor  is  two  feet  below  the  level  of  the  court  in  front,  and  from  want  of 
proper  drainage  is  subject  to  more  or  less  flooding  during  heavy  rains. 
Each  floor  is  divided  into  six  main  rooms,  with  two  small  bedrooms  in 
rear  of  each,  making  fifty-four  apartments  in  the  row  exclusive  of  hall- 
ways. All  these  apartments  are  filled  to  their  utmost  capacity  by  the 
poorest  class  of  tenement  population.  The  space  between  these  front  and 
rear  buildings  varies  from  sixteen  feet  at  one  end  to  thirty  at  the  other. 
Tin's  space  is  occupied  by  a  small  stable  and  numerous  rickety  sheds, 
privies,  &c,  and  piles  of  refuse  wood,  boards,  and  broken  furniture,  leav- 
ing a  clear  space  of  about  six  feet  for  passage  way.  One  of  the  privic3 
stands  immediately  in  front  of  the  entrance  of  one  of  the  rear  houses,  at 
the  distance  of  six  feet.  The  other  is  some  twelve  feet  from  the  door  of 
another  house.  This  court  is  surrounded  by  the  high  walls  of  ware- 
houses and  other  buildings  on  all  sides,  and  is  reached  by  two  narrow 
passages,  one  at  either  extremity  of  the  premises,  which  passages  arc 
constantly  used  by  children  and  others  for  the  purposes  of  a  latrine. 
Throughout  all  these  quarters,  apartments,  halls,  stairways,  passages, 
privies,  court,  &c,  the  utmost  neglect  of  all  hygienic  laws  prevails.  And 

*  Sec  engraving  from  a  photographic  picture  of  theac  premises  on  tho  next  page. 


TENANT-HOUSES. — FEVEK-NEST3. 


0 


in  addition,  the  street  throughout  this  whole  neighborhood  presents  habit- 
ually the  vilest  condition  of  filth,  and  reeks  with  most  offensive  odors. 
Typhus  fever  and  measles  were  very  prevalent  here  in  the  early  part  of 
summer,  several  cases  of  which  were  fatal.  In  my  weekly  reports  of 
"  pestilential  diseases  and  insalubrious  quarters,"  I  have  had  frequent 
occasion  to  describe  the  condition  of  families  and  diseases  in  the  premises 
that  are  here  photographed.  The  successful  work  of  the  artist  in  this 
picture  renders  unnecessary  any  further  description  of  these  squalid  and 
pestiferous  tenements,  and  their  noisome  fronting  of  dilapidated  and 
overflowing  privies,  and  a  dismal,  narrow,  flooded  court.  That  eruptive 
fevers,  typhus,  and  physical  decay  may  always  be  seen  here,  is  certainly 
not  surprising. 

These  are  some  of  the  characteristics  pertaining  to  tenant-houses 
as  a  class,  yet  there  are  some  laudable  exceptions  in  which  exist  much 
neatness,  cleanliness,  and  consequent  comfort  and  good  health,  and  which 
show  that  much  depends  upon  the  habits  of  the  people  in  the  care  of  their 
domiciles,  as  well  as  upon  their  size  and  location. 

The  insalubrity  of  quarters  such  as  those  above  described,  may  be 
predicated  upon  general  hygienic  principles  ;  but  that  they  are  so  in  fact,  is 
shown  by  a  reference  to  the  special  reports  "  of  insalubrious  quarters 
and  pestilential  diseases,"  in  which  it  appears  that  in  almost  all  in- 
stances of  such  diseases  tenant-houses  of  the  worst  class  are  their 
favorite  haunts.  It  is  gratifying,  however,  to  find  that  at  the  present  date 
there  is  but  little  disease  of  a  pestilential  character  prevailing  in  this  dis- 
trict ;  it  having  disappeared  as  the  result,  doubtless,  of  the  free  ventila- 
tion that  the  summer  season  enables  all  to  enjoy,  whereby  typhus  and 
other  poisons  become  too  much  diluted  for  further  propagation  ;  and,  also, 
to  the  early  removal  of  fever  patients  to  the  hospitals.  Without  these 
beneficent  and  salutary  agencies,  those  diseases  would  doubtless  have  lin- 
gered in  these  favorite  lurking  places ;  and  as  winter  approached  and  pure 
air  became  excluded,  their  poisons  would  have  again  become  intensified, 
making  those  populous  human  hives  the  nurseries  of  pestilence  and  the  very 
harvest-field  of  Death ! 

•  But  it  is  not  in  the  more  acute  forms  of  disease  that  the  poorest  class 
of  tenant-houses  exhibit  their  worst  effects  upon  the  inmates.  "We  find  it 
rather  in  the  pale  and  sickly  countenance  of  their  occupants,  with  lax  fibre 
and  general  absence  of  robust  health ;  we  see  it  also  in  the  pining  and 
wasting  of  infants,  and  in  the  great  prevalence  of  strumous,  ophthalmic, 
and  eruptive  disorders.  All  these  appearances  indicate,  unmistakably, 
the  want  of  those  great  indispensable  necessities  of  health — pure  air  and 
light.    In  the  deadly  atmosphere  of  some  low  basement,  or  close  unventi- 


10 


REPORT  OF  THE  FERST  SAKTTARY  DISTRICT. 


lated  bedroom,  or  in  the  wretched  squalor  of  some  dilapidated  garret,  those 
little  ones  so  numerously  born  amongst,  this  class  first  draw  their  breath, 
and  in  an  atmosphere  surcharged  with  poison  they  battle  for  life  ;  but  in 
the  unequal  strife  very  few  survive,  and  thus  are  yearly  sacrificed  whole 
hecatombs  of  living  souls.  They  fall,  victims  not  of  necessity,  nor  of  the 
decrees  of  inevitable  Fate,  but  of  ignorance  and  avarice,  and  are  lost  to 
parents  and  friends,  to  society,  and  to  usefulness  in  the  world. 

Drinking  Saloons,  Brothels,  &c. — The  drinking  saloons  of  this  dis- 
trict number  423.  Of  these  about  one-half  are  low  groggeries,  where  the 
vilest  of  poisons  are  dispensed  to  irreclaimable  inebriates  ;  the  remainder 
are  the  more  respectable,  but  perhaps  in  their  ultimate  effects  not  less  det- 
rimental establishments  attached  to  hotels,  restaurants,  and  dining-saloons. 
Of  brothels,  which  are  mainly  of  the  lowest  class,  there  are  about  40. 
Many  of  these  are  in  underground  basements  along  the  line  of  Greenwich 
Street.  There  are  a  few  houses  of  prostitution,  of  somewhat  respectable 
exterior.  Many  of  these  establishments  are  frequented  by  large  numbers 
of  emigrant  runners,  bounty  brokers,  sporting  men,  and  gamblers,  and  it 
is  probable  that  gambling  is  carried  on  at  most  of  those  of  a  medium 
character.  A  few  billiard  saloons  also  are  found,  principally  along  Green- 
wich Street.  It  is  also  common  along  this  street,  and  particularly  at 
night,  for  large  numbers  of  prostitutes  to  pursue  their  calling,  devoid  of 
all  shame,  in  the  public  street. 

Stores. — Of  stores,  it  may  be  said  that  in  some  form  they  constitute 
the  greatest  portion  of  the  district.  Along  the  upper  and  newer  portions 
of  the  same  they  are  principally  wholesale.  Along  Greenwich,  and  the 
lower  portion  of  Washington,  they  arc  mostly  retail  shops  of  all  kinds. 

Markets. — From  Cortlandt  to  Murray,  between  Greenwich  Street 
and  the  river,  the  markets  contain  some  variety  of  materials  for  human  food, 
as  produce  and  commission,  provisions,  wholesale  groceries,  fruits,  vege- 
tables, nuts,  &c.  The  Washington  is  the  only  regular  market  in  the  dis- 
trict, including  its  offshoot  West  Washington  Market.  Meat  stores  are 
somewhat  numerous,  and  many  groceries  sell  most  of  those  articles  usually 
kept  in  regular  markets. 

The  condition  of  Washington  Market  reflects  discredit  and  positive 
shame  upon  cither  the  city  or  those  who  are  more  immediately  concerned  in 
its  management.  It  is  very  old  and  much  dilapitatcd,  its  roof  is  leaky,  and 
its  floors  warped  and  broken  in  places.  It  appears  to  be  badly  drained, 
as  filthy  water  almost  always  stands  in  its  surrounding  gutters.  Street 
filth  and  refuse  vegetables  constantly  lie  in  the  streets,  and  altogether  it 
presents  a  picture  of  great  untidiness.  West  Washington  Market  is  also 
very  filthy  at  times,  so  much  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  get  around  it  with 


STABLES. — CHURCHES.  SCHOOL-ROOMS. 


11 


any  degree  of  comfort.  The  vast  traffic  carried  on  in  this  locality  may,  to 
a  certain  extent,  excuse  the  condition  of  things  found  here,  but  the  facts 
are  as  here  represented.  There  is  but  a  small  resident  population  near 
the  market. 

Stables. — The  stables  of  the  district  number  25,  of  which  five  are 
public,  the  remainder  private.  Many  of  the  latter  are  located  either  in 
the  basements  or  rear  courts  of  dwellings,  and  are  kept  in  a  slovenly  con- 
dition. These,  on  general  principles,  are  sources  of  insalubrity,  although 
no  sickness  that  could  unmistakably  be  attributed  to  their  influence  alone 
has  been  traced. 

Churches. — There  are  three  churches  in  the  district,  viz. :  Trinity  and 
St.  Paul's  on  Broadway,  and  St.  Peter's  in  Barclay  Street.  These  are 
spacious  structures,  well  appointed  in  all  respects.  In  addition  there  are 
two  chapels  of  small  dimensions,  one  at  No.  27  Greenwich  Street,  and  a 
floating  chapel  at  the  foot  of  Carlisle  Street. 

Schools. — There  are  five  schools  in  the  district.  "Ward  school  No. 
29,  at  97  and  99  Greenwich  Street,  with  its  Primary  Department  in  the 
rear  on  Trinity  Place.  These  structures  are  nearly  new,  are  well  pro- 
vided in  all  respects  for  ventilation,  warmth,  and  for  speedy  escape  in 
case  of  fire.  The  various  apartments  are  kept  in  the  best  of  order.  St. 
Peter's  school  in  the  basement  of  St.  Peter's  church,  attended  by  600  to 
700  children,  is  not  so  well  adapted  for  the  purpose  as  the  one  above 
mentioned,  but  is  well  kept,  and  the  health  of  the  children  good.  St. 
Peter's  Academy  adjoining  the  church.  Primary  school  No.  37,  at  41 
Robinson  Street,  with  150  to  200  pupils,  and  the  "  Industrial  School  of  the 
Children's  Aid  Society,"  although  not  originally  constructed  for  schools, 
are  kept  in  a  very  cleanly  condition,  well  ventilated,  and  comfortably 
warmed,  and  attention  paid  to  the  physical  requirements  of  the  pupils. 
Whatever  defects  there  may  be  in  our  schools,  their  general  influence  is 
salutary,  not  only  by  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  elevation  of  morality, 
but  by  their  direct  effects  in  rescuing  hundreds  for  the  time  being  from 
the  degrading  influences  that  surround  them  in  their  wretched  homes  ;  the 
pupils  also  carry  back  to  those  homes  some  of  the  genial  influences  of  the 
school. 

Park. — The  only  park  in  the  district  is  the  Battery,  the  enlargement  of 
which  commenced  several  years  ago,  but  is  still  incomplete.  The  walks  and 
lawns  of  the  older  portion  of  it  still  present  some  show  of  order  and  neat- 
ness ;  but  the  newer  portion  is  now  occupied  chiefly  by  barracks  for  sol- 
diers and  emigrants. 

Castle  Garden. — The  hundreds  of  thousands  of  emigrants  that  are 
yearly  landed  at  Castle  Garden,  are  without  doubt  the  source  of  consider- 


12 


EEPORT  OF  THE  FIRST  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


able  disease  to  the  city,  especially  of  typhus  fever  and  small-pox.  Yet 
this  "  emigrant  depot"  for  the  continent  has,  by  its  system  and  care,  pre- 
vented much  disease  and  suffering. 

Piers. — The  wharves  of  this  district  are  built  of  wood,  and  arc, 
too  frequently,  in  a  dilapidated  condition.  They  are  also  the  depots  of  vast 
accumulations  of  sewage  and  street-filth,  which,  in  its  decomposition, 
emits  foul  gases  that  pervade  these  districts,  and  render  them  insalu- 
brious. 

Cemeteries. — There  are  two  cemeteries  in  the  district,  viz. :  Trinity 
and  St.  Paul's ;  but  these  are  now  comparatively  unused  as  places  of 
interment. 

Nuisances. — The  principal  nuisances  are  filthy  streets,  obstructed 
gutters,  broken  and  imperfect  pavements,  garbage-boxes  loaded  with  all 
manner  of  refuse,  and  reeking  with  putrescible  matters,  unclean  stables, 
yards,  and  privies. 

Diseases. — The  diseases  prevalent  in  this  district  the  past  season, 
have  been  principally  typhus,  measles,  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  cholera 
morbus,  cholera  infantum,  and  marasmus.  Typhus  fever,  in  most  cases, 
is  imported,  although  there  arc  sufficient  causes  to  generate  it  in  certain 
localities  of  this  part  of  the  city.  Diarrhoeal  diseases  are  most  prevalent 
in  those  insalubrious  quarters  already  described,  and  at  a  season  when 
the  exciting  causes  are  at  their  greatest  stage  of  development  and  activity. 
Illustrative  examples  are  found  in  Washington,  Greenwich,  and  "West 
Streets,  and  the  streets  intersecting  them,  where  tenant-houses  of  the 
poorer  class  are  located. 

Improvements. — The  improvements  attributable  to  the  efforts  of  the 
public  authorities,  consist  in  the  removal  to  hospital  of  patients  suffering 
from  pestilential  diseases.  Several  fever-nests  have  thus  been  broken  up. 
There  has  been,  also,  an  inspection  of  insalubrious  quarters,  resulting  in 
numerous  instances  in  temporary  improvement ;  but  as  far  as  my  obser- 
vation cxtonds,  in  the  majority  of  these  cases  the  improvement  is  only 
temporary,  and  must  be  so  until  radical  changes  arc  made  in  the  abodes 
und  in  the  habits  of  the  large  class  to  which  these  evils  arc  chiefly  con- 
fined. 

Remedial  Measures. — This  district  is  rapidly  undergoing  a  process 
of  depopulation  and  transmutation,  that  will  ultimately  render  it  at  once 
Falubrious  and  almost  uninhabited  by  families.  The  requirements  of 
trade  and  commerce  arc  such  that  probably  in  a  very  few  years  most  of 
those  localities  now  so  crowded  with  the  worst  class  tenant-houses,  will 
be  occupied  by  new  and  well-appointed  stores  and  warehouses,  whereby 
the  prime  cause  of  insalubrity  being  removed,  tho  desired  effect  follows. 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. — STATISTICS. 


13 


But  to  give  a  more  pertinent  answer  to  the  inquiry  in  its  practical  rela- 
tions :  First,  all  streets  should  be  supplied  with  sewers,  and  all  dwellings 
especially  should  have  the  proper  connections  therewith,  to  insure  thor- 
ough drainage,  and  the  prompt  removal  of  all  house-slops,  privy  con- 
tents, &c.  Streets  now  paved  with  cobble-stone  pavement  should  be  re- 
paved  with  Belgian  pavement,  and  so  graded  that  surface  drainage  would 
be  thoroughly  accomplished.  Sidewalks  now  broken  up  should  be  re- 
flagged.  The  streets  should  be  swept  as  often  as  may  be  necessary  to 
keep  them  perfectly  clean,  while  the  prohibition  of  garbage,  ashes,  gar- 
bage-boxes, and  all  slops  should  be  absolute,  and  should  be  rigidly  en- 
forced. All  rear  tenant-houses  should  be  abolished,  and  all  new  tenant- 
houses  should  be  constructed  on  an  improved  style,  with  large,  airy,  and 
well-lighted  apartments,  with  hydrants  and  waste-pipes  to  each  floor,  and 
also  conveniences  for  the  inmates  of  such  houses  to  bathe.  All  latrines 
should  be  well  removed  to  the  rear  of  the  domicile,  and  have  the  proper 
sewer  connections  and  hydrant  attachment.  In  short,  if  the  tenements 
of  the  poor  could  be  modelled  in  a  measure  after  those  of  their  more  for- 
tunate wealthy  neighbors,  and  provided  with  certain  essential  conven- 
iences that  pertain  to  the  mansions  of  the  rich,  there  would  remain 
nothing  more  to  be  desired  to  render  their  quarters  tolerably  healthful. 

Statistical  Recapitulation  (1st  District). 
No.  of  Squares,    .  .  .  .  .  .  .64 

-    rcM"i  ■  •  •  •  15518 

"     Tenant-Houses,  j  Front,  217  )  <  _  ^ 


Rear,  24 

Drinking  Shops  (all  kinds),     ....  423 

Brothel3,    .  .  .  .  .  .  .40 

Churches,        ......  3 

Chapels,    .......  2 

Schools,  ......  5 

•"MSEW}  25 


EEPOET 


OP  THE 

SECOND  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


ISAAC   L.   MILLSPAUGH,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — Northerly  by  Park  Iloiv,  Spruce  and  Ferry  Streets  and 
Peck  Slip,  east  and  south  by  the  East  River,  and  west  by  State  Street  and 
Broadway. 

TorOGRAPHY. — The  surface  of  the  district  presents  considerable  ir- 
regularity. A  portion  is  made  ground,  and  nearly  level,  including  al- 
most all  that  lies  between  Pearl  Street  and  the  East  River.  Westerly  of 
Pearl  Street  the  ground  is  natural,  and  rises  gradually,  though  not  uni- 
formly, until  it  reaches  its  highest  elevation  near  Broadway  at  Pine  and 
Cedar  Streets,  and  again  where  Ann  and  Spruce  Streets  intersect  Nassau 
Street  and  Park  Row.  The  line  of  Broad  Street  exhibits  a  marked  de- 
pression, and  was,  as  appears  from  old  maps  of  the  city,  once  a  water 
course.  Maiden  Lane  also  exhibits  a  marked  depression  of  surface  that 
was  probably  once  flanked  by  hills  of  considerable  height,  but  which 
have  been  removed,  furnishing  material  for  filling  in  the  low  ground 
east  of  Pearl  Street.  At  the  upper  limit  of  the  district,  on  Ferry  Street, 
in  the  vicinity  of  what  was  once  the  "  Swamp,"  is  also  a  consider- 
able stretch  of  low  ground,  once  a  marsh,  reclaimed  by  filling  in  with  the 
superfluous  materials  of  the  elevated  portions.  The  soil  of  the  district 
is  a  sandy  alluvium,  and  therefore  favorable  to  thorough  drainage.  The 
unevenness  of  the  surface  also  contributes  to  good  drainage  of  the  streets 
and  to  a  free  flow  of  sewage.  The  level  portion  of  the  district  cast  of 
Pearl  Street  has,  however,  the  disadvantage  of  but  slight  elevation  abovo 
tide-water,  and  insufficient  inclination  for  thorough  drainage.  As  a  con- 
sequence, accumulations  of  surfaco  materials  occur  in  streets  and  gut- 
ters, and  underground  apartments  arc  damp. 


FAULTY  CONDITION  OF  STREETS,  BUILDINGS,  ETC. 


15 


Streets. — The  streets  of  the  Second  District  vary  much  in  width  and 
direction  ;  some  are  of  great  width,  as  Broad  Street  and  the  Slips  along 
the  East  River  ;  but  the  majority  are  narrow,  and  several  are  so  contracted 
as  scarcely  to  allow  of  the  passage  of  a  single  vehicle.  Most  of  the  streets 
have  the  cobble-stone  pavement.  The  exceptions  are  Park  Row,  paved  with 
Russ,  and  much  improved  by  grooving ;  Beekman,  Fulton,  Wall,  Beaver, 
Whitehall,  State,  and  South  Streets,  and  portions  of  Pearl,  William,  and 
Pine  Streets,  which  are  paved  with  Belgian  pavement.  This  kind  of  pave- 
ment is  peculiarly  well  adapted  to  this  district  on  account  of  the  great 
amount  of  heavy  carting  necessary  in  the  transactions  of  its  commercial 
business.  The  cobble-stone  pavement  is  especially  faulty  in  this  district. 
The  streets  paved  with  it  are  uneven,  and  are  always  unclean  owing  to 
the  accumulations  of  refuse. 

Sewerage. — There  are  but  few  streets  in  the  district  that  are  not  in 
whole  or  in  part  sewered.  These  sewers  empty  into  the  river  between 
high  and  low  water.  There  is  a  considerable  number  of  dwellings  in 
the  district  that  have  no  sewer  connections. 

Squares. — There  are  99  squares  in  the  district,  the  larger  number  of 
which  are  not  in  a  bad  sanitary  condition.  They  are  located  upon  a  dry, 
sandy  soil,  well  drained,  and  with  sewers  in  all  the  surrounding  streets. 
The  remaining  squares  are  upon  made  ground,  and  have  the  usual  disad- 
vantages of  squares  thus  located.  The  squares  on  either  side  of  White- 
hall Street,  and  three  or  four  at  the  upper  extremity  of  the  district,  may 
be  regarded  as  in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition,  not  so  much  on  account  of 
their  location,  drainage,  &c,  as  because  their  inhabitants  neglect  all  san- 
itary precautions. 

Inhabitants. — This  district  is  the  least  densely  populated  section  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  city,  and  its  permanent  inhabitants  are  decreasing 
from  year  to  year.  Old  dwellings  are  constantly  giving  place  to  large 
and  costly  structures  erected  for  commercial  purposes.  The  Irish  nation- 
ality predominates.  About  one-half  the  resident  population  is  of  the 
laboring  class  ;  the  remainder  is  principally  composed  of  keepers  of  hotels, 
saloons,  boarding-houses,  &c.  One-half  may  be  estimated  as  ignorant, 
the  other  half  of  a  medium  grade  of  intelligence. 

Buildings. — The  buildings  of  the  district  number  2,309.  Of  these 
31  are  rear  buildings  ;  73  tenant-houses,  none  of  which  arc  rear  buildings  ; 
an  equal  number  are  dwellings  containing  one  or  two  families  not 
enumerated  as  tenant-houses,  nor  are  they  strictly  private  residences. 
There  are  very  few  private  residences.  The  great  majority  of  buildings 
in  the  district  arc  stores  and  warehouses.  In  the  lower  section  they  arc 
principally  devoted  to  the  grain,  flour,  and  provision  trade ;  along  tho 


16 


REPORT  OF  THE  SECOND  SANITARY  UISTKICT. 


river  and  in  its  more  immediate  vicinity  shipping-offices  and  supply  stores 
predominate  ;  through  the  more  central  portions  a  great  variety  of  busi- 
ness is  transacted,  mostly  on  a  large  scale. 

Sanitary  Wants  of  Commercial  Warehouses  and  Offices. — Of  the  nearly 
two  thousand  buildings  that  are  devoted  to  mercantile  and  business  pur- 
poses in  this  district,  only  a  small  minority  have  adequate  ventilation  and 
Lighting  in  their  counting-rooms  and  most  frequented  apartments.  Al- 
though it  is  noticeable  that  vast  improvements  in  these  particulars  are 
effected  in  most  of  the  more  recently-erected  stores  and  offices,  there  is  an 
imperative  hygienic  demand  for  reform  in  this  respect  in  the  older  build- 
ings. We  know  it  is  safe  to  say  that  hundreds  and  probably  thousands 
of  valuable  lives  are  sacrificed  every  year  in  the  counting-rooms,  banking- 
houses,  stores,  and  offices  of  the  commercial  district  of  our  city  in  conse- 
quence of  defective  ventilation  and  natural  lighting ;  and  that  the  health 
of  a  hundred  thousand  business  men  and  their  employes  suffers  seriously 
from  the  same  causes.  In  this  district,  so  densely  crowded  with  high 
buildings,  and  with  its  narrow  and  almost  sunless  streets  thronged  by  a 
hundred  thousand  persons  through  the  day,  it  is  also  a  matter  of  prime 
importance  that  every  nuisance  and  offence  against  health  be  kept  abated, 
that  the  streets,  alleys,  gutters,  sinks,  privies,  cellars,  and  docks  be  kept 
scrupulously  clean,  and  that  special  regard  be  had  to  the  sewerage,  and  its 
trappings  against  reflux  gases,  and  that  all  other  sources  of  insalubrious 
emanations  be  strictly  controlled.  In  the  attic  story  of  many  of  the  bank- 
ing and  other  buildings  reside  the  families  of  the  person  in  charge  of  the 
various  offices.  The  sanitary  condition  under  which  these  families  reside 
is  generally  favorable. 

Manufacturing  operations  of  various  kinds  are  carried  on  throughout 
the  district.  There  are  290  drinking  establishments,  some  of  which  are 
groggerics  of  the  lowest  class,  while  the  majority  are  bars  of  hotels,  dining 
saloons,  and  restaurants. 

There  are  two  principal  markets,  viz.,  Franklin  and  Fulton,  and  meat 
shops  at  the  lower  end  of  the  district.  Franklin  Market  is  old  and  has  a  com- 
paratively small  trade,  principally  with  the  shipping.  .  Fulton  Market  is 
the  centre  of  an  extensive  business  as  a  family  market.  It  is  situated  on 
made  land,  with  defective  ground  and  surface  drainage  ;  the  buildings  are 
old  wooden  structures  in  a  dilapidated  condition ;  the  stalls  arc  small, 
poorly  ventilated,  and  offensive  with  the  refuse  accumulated  in  and  under  the 
worn-out  floors  ;  the  gutters  in  and  around  the  market  arc  generally  obstruct- 
ed with  filth  :  in  a  word,  the  whole  establishment  in  its  internal  arrangements 
and  condition,  and  its  external  appearance  and  surroundings,  is  a  disgrace 
to  a  civilized  community.  There  arc  1G  stables  in  the  district,  but  two  of 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. — SUGGESTIONS. 


17 


which  are  public,  many  of  these  are  situated  in  the  yards  of  tenant- 
houses  or  in  buildings  whose  upper  rooms  are  occupied  by  families. 
Neglect  is  apparent  in  the  case  of  many  of  these  establishments,  and  filth 
is  allowed  to  accumulate  around  them. 

Churches,  Schools,  &c. — There  are  three  churches  in  the  district, 
viz.,  St.  George's  Chapel,  at  the  corner  of  Beekman  and  Cliff  Streets ; 
the  North  Dutch  Church,  corner  of  Fulton  and  William  Streets,  and  the 
First  Methodist,  in  John  Street.  These  churches  are  all  old  structures. 
There  are  two  schools,  both  primary.  One  of  these  is  a  brick  three-story 
and  basement  building,  and  is  attended  by  150  children.  The  three 
apartments  occupied  as  assembly  and  recitation-rooms,  are  warmed  by 
wood  fires  in  stoves,  and  ventilated  by  doors  and  window-sashes.  The 
other  school  is  attended  by  from  150  to  200  children.  None  of  these 
edifices  are  adequately  ventilated. 

Diseases. — Owing  to  the  sparseness  of  the  population,  there  is  at  no 
time  a  great  amount  of  sickness  in  the  district.  In  a  few  localities,  how- 
ever, there  has  been  some  typhus  fever,  traceable  in  most  instances  to 
immigrants  newly  arrived.  It  made  its  appearance  in  tenant-houses,  and 
in  two  or  three  instances  spread  through  all  the  families  immediately  ex- 
posed. At  one  place  in  Bridge  Street,  adjoining  the  Battery,  the  disease 
attacked  successively  every  member  of  the  family  immediately  exposed, 
but  was  prevented  from  spreading  further  by  free  ventilation,  the  charac- 
ter and  location  of  the  domicile  permitting  that  agency  to  be  employed. 
In  another  case,  in  a  low,  damp  basement  in  Pearl  Street,  it  was  arrested 
by  removing  the  sick  to  hospital.  Some  cases  of  measles  were  observed 
in  the  district  during  the  early  part  of  the  summer. 

Remedial  Measures. — The  preventible  causes  of  sickness  among  the 
resident  population  are  here  limited  to  tenant-houses.  Though  there  are 
but  few  large  tenant-houses  constructed  for  that  especial  purpose  in  the 
district,  there  are  many  small  and  old  tenant-houses.  The  buildings 
are  old  and  more  or  less  dilapidated ;  the  apartments  are  filthy ;  the 
halls,  passages,  and  stairways  abound  with  dirt,  and  the  yards,  often 
unpaved,  are  the  receptacles  of  house  sweepings,  ashes,  and  excrement. 
Their  privies  are  unscwered,  broken,  overfull,  and  utterly  unfit  for  their 
proper  use,  while  the  gutters  of  the  adjacent  streets  are  filled  with  the 
most  noxious  compounds  of  house-slops,  garbage,  and  ordinary  street  dirt. 
Within  and  around  such  wretched  habitations  a  pure,  invigorating  atmos- 
phere cannot  exist,  and  their  occupants  are  alike  strangers  to  physical 
robustness  and  moral  purity. 

The  most  obvious  necessity  is  the  erection  of  tenant-houses,  of  im- 
proved style  and  arrangement,  whereby  larger  apartments,  more  light,  and 
2 


18 


KEPORT  OF  THE  SECOND  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


better  ventilation  shall  be  afforded ;  water  upon  each  floor,  with  proper 
drain,  and  ample  lavatory  conveniences  would  be  secured.  Water- 
closets,  located  well  apart  from  inhabited  quarters,  should  be  provided 
with  sewer  connections  and  hydrant  attachment,  so  as  to  prevent  accumu- 
lation. Where  the  want  of  rear  space — as  so  frequently  happens  in  this 
section  of  the  city — prevents  such  remote  location  of  water-closets, 
the  most  eligible  position  is  underneath  the  sidewalk,  at  once  secluded, 
sufficiently  convenient  of  access  and  of  easy  sewer  connection. 

In  the  disposal  of  garbage  and  house-slops  there  should  be  a  total 
abolition  of  street  garbage-boxes,  and  a  strict  prohibition  of  the  present 
universal  custom  in  this  part  of  the  city,  of  throwing  slops  into  the 
street. 

The  streets  should  be  more  thoroughly  sewered,  and  those  that  are 
badly  sewered  should  be  improved  by  the  substitution  of  sewers  of  the 
most  approved  style.  Cobble-stone  pavement  should  also  be  replaced  by 
the  trap-block,  or  Belgian.  Finally,  we  would  suggest  that  the  Council 
of  Hygiene  cause  a  suitable  pamphlet  or  report  to  be  prepared  with  refer- 
ence to  the  hygienic  requirements  of  counting-rooms  and  offices  connected 
with  the  mercantile  houses  of  the  crowded  sections  of  the  city.  The 
commercial  classes  and  the  tens  of  thousands  who  daily  frequent  this 
commercial  and  shipping  district,  might  properly  unite  in  requesting  the 
owners  of  mercantile  edifices  to  improve  the  lighting  and  ventilation  of 
their  offices,  etc. ;  and  the  same  persons,  together  with  multitudes  of 
business  men  in  all  parts  of  the  country  who  frequently  visit  and  do 
business  in  this  section  of  our  city,  should  also  join  in  demanding  that  its 
streets,  its  docks,  and  its  sewers,  shall  be  kept  in  so  cleanly  a  condition, 
that  the  health  of  the  vast  population  that  is  daily  exposed  to  emanations 
therefrom,  shall  no  longer  be  imperilled  by  them.  Though  "  Commerce 
is  King  "  in  this  particular  section  of  the  city,  the  fact  should  be  kept  in 
mind,  that  civic  salubrity  is  one  of  the  indispensable  safeguards  to  com- 
mercial prosperity. 

Statistical  Recapitulation  (2d  District). 

No.  of  Squares,      ......  09 

"  Houses,   2,309 

44  Rear  Houses,          ....  31 

44  Tenant-Houses,            .          .          ...  73 

44  Dram-shops  (all  kinds),       ....  28G 

44  Stables  (mostly  private),  .  .  .  .16 

44  Churches,     ......  8 

44  Schools,            ......  2 


REPORT 


OF  THE 

THIRD  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT.    [Section  A.] 


HAMPTON    HARRIOT,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — North  by  Canal  Street,  east  by  Broadway,  south  by 
Reade  Street,  west  by  the  North  River.  This  District  ( Tliird,  Section  A) 
comprises  the  whole  of  the  Fifth  Ward. 

Topography. — For  completeness  and  convenience,  the  topography 
of  the  entire  area  of  the  Third  District  [Sections  A  and  B)  will  be  de- 
scribed under  one  head. 

The  topography  of  this  district  is  somewhat  peculiar,  consisting  of  a 
depressed  section  of  ground,  originally  swamp  land,  bordered  by  high, 
sandy  hills.  The  original  formation  of  the  surface  was  easily  ascer- 
tained, several  maps  of  that  section  of  the  island  as  originally  constituted 
having  been  preserved  and  republished  in  various  works.  The  accompa- 
nying map  shows  the  original  formation  of  the  surface  of  the  district, 
and  the  ground  reclaimed  from  the  river,  with  the  relative  position  of  the 
present  streets  to  the  same.  The  rocky  formations,  of  which  the  island 
is  principally  composed,  are  here  depressed  to  a  depth  of  from  forty  to 
eighty  feet  below  the  surface,  thus  forming  a  basin,  which,  where  not 
occupied  by  high  sand-hills,  formed  deep  depressions,  filled  with  more  or 
less  soft  quagmire.  These  swamps  were  indeed  so  unsubstantial  in 
places  as  to  yield  under  the  weight  of  the  dirt  dumped  in  to  make  firm 
ground  for  building  purposes  ;  necessitating,  in  some  places,  the  making 
of  new  ground  to  the  depth  of  forty  feet.  This  was  ascertained  to  be  the 
depth  of  made  ground  before  reaching  the  remains  of  the  original  deposit 
of  mud,  at  the  corner  of  "Wooster  and  Grand  Streets,  where  a  well  was 
sunk  some  years  ago,  an  additional  depth  of  thirty  feet  of  the  original 
deposits  being  passed  through  before  the  rock  was  reached. 


20 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


SANITARY  AND  TOPO GRAPHICAL  MAP  OF  THE  THIRD  INSPECTION 

DISTRICT. 

THE  FIFTH,  AND  A  PART  OF  THE  EIGHTH  WARD. 


EXPLANATION  OF  FIGURES,  ETC. 

The  numbers  at  the  intersections  of  the  streets  indicate  the  present  elevation  at  those 
points  above  tide  level. 

The  wavy  line  in  streets  and  sections  of  streets  indicates  sewers  into  which  the  high- 
tide  water  flows.  • 

The  dotted  contour  lino  -•  indicates  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  section 

that  is  drained  by  sewers  through  which  tide-water  flows,  and  that  section  of  the  district 
in  which  the  bottoms  of  tho  sewcre  arc  above  tide-level. 

The  crests  of  the  highest  of  the  original  hills  arc  shown  upon  the  right-hand  margin 
of  the  Mao. 


OLD  SWAMPS. — PRESENT  DRAINAGE. 


21 


On  the  map  the  part  unshaded  represents  the  ground  reclaimed  from  the 
river,  heing  the  greater  part  of  the  district  outside  of  Greenwich  Street. 
The  surface  represented  in  the  marshy  shading  shows  the  extent  of 
swampy  ground,  formerly  called  the  Lispenard  Meadows.  This  ground 
was  very  soft  and  hoggy  in  its  nature,  heing  overflowed  by  water  at  high 
tides,  and  until  filled  in  it  was  almost  impassable.  The  amount  of  mate- 
rial required  to  fill  in  this  swamp,  and  the  enormous  expense  attending  it, 
induced  the  authorities  of  that  day  to  make  the  grade  as  low  as  possible, 
consistent  with  mere  surface  drainage.  Portions  of  it  have  since  been 
filled  in  and  other  parts  will  probably  be  soon  raised  in  grade,  thereby  im- 
proving the  drainage  ;  but  yet  leaving  a  very  large  surface  of  low  and 
badly-drained  ground,  especially  near  and  north  of  Canal  Street. 

This  swampy  land  was  intersected  by  a  sluggish  stream  of  water, 
running  from  the  pond,  called  the  Collect,  situated  in  the  present  neigh- 
borhood of  Centre  and  Leonard  Streets,  and  covering  several  squares  of 
ground.  This  outlet  followed  nearly  the  line  of  Canal  Street  from  Broad- 
way, where  it  was  crossed  by  a  stone  bridge,  to  the  Hudson  River,  empty- 
ing therein.  A  branch  of  this  stream  on  the  line  of  West  Broadway, 
drained  the  meadows  in  that  direction. 

The  shaded  portion  of  the  map  represents  the  solid  ground,  which 
was  formerly  somewhat  irregular  and  picturesque  in  appearance,  being 
high  and  hilly,  rising  on  Broadway  and  Leonard  Street  to  a  height  of 
near  one  hundred  feet  above  the  river.  These  high  grounds  have  since 
been  much  lowered  by  grading  down  for  building  purposes  ;  and  the  sur- 
plus dirt  was  used  for  filling  in  the  swamp  lands  and  the  section  reclaimed 
from  the  river.  Part  of  one  of  the  original  hills  can  yet  be  seen  in  the 
grounds  of  the  New  York  Hospital,  which  have  not  yet  been  reduced  to 
the  street  grade.  The  hill  that  existed  in  the  neighborhood  of  Broadway 
and  Broome  Street  was  also  so  high  as  to  be  cut  down  some  forty  or  fifty 
feet,  being  below  the  bottom  of  some  of  the  wells  in  the  vicinity.  The 
tongue  of  land  between  the  Lispenard  Meadows  and  the  Hudson  River 
was  of  less  elevation,  but  was  also  more  or  less  disturbed  by  the  necessary 
grading  of  that  part  of  the  city. 

Drainage  and  Sewerage. — The  original  sewerage  of  this  district 
had  a  direct  relation  to  the  natural  formations  of  the  surface.  As  the 
meadows  were  filled  in  the  original  streams  were  carried  through  open 
box  sewers,  built  of  timber,  following  the  lines  of  Canal  Street  and  West 
Broadway.  In  the  course  of  time,  and  from  the  growth  of  the  city  around 
them,  these  sewers  became  so  offensive  and  dangerous  that  it  became  ne- 
cessary to  enclose  them.  This  was  done  by  building  very  large  sewers, 
with  comparatively  flat  bottoms,  which  remain  to  this  day  a  continual 


22 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


source  of  expense  and  nuisance.  The  bottoms  of  these  sewers  were  laid 
with  flat  stones  sloping  to  the  centre  ;  the  sides  were  built  of  brick,  perpen- 
dicular in  direction,  and  some  four  feet  in  height ;  and  from  these  side  walls 
a  low  arch  was  thrown  enclosing  the  sewer  ;  the  whole  being  covered  with 
the  street  and  pavement.  Owing  to  this  plan  of  building,  the  bottoms  of 
these  sewers  are  badly  broken  and  cannot  be  thoroughly  cleaned.  All 
the  other  sewers  of  the  district  are  built  of  brick  or  tile,  being  oval  in 
shape  and  well  adapted  to  their  purpose  ;  some  of  the  smaller  branch 
sewers  being  of  earthen  ware,  moulded  and  burnt  in  sections.  The  dis- 
trict is  pretty  well  sewered,  and  the  streets  needing  it  are  being  rapidly 
supplied. 

Street  Elevations. — On  the  map  I  have  given  in  numbers  the 
elevation,  in  feet,  of  each  street  intersection  above  high-water  mark,  and 
have  also  indicated  by  wavy  lines  such  streets  in  which  the  sewers,  if 
built,  would  be  entered  by  the  tide  at  high  water.  This  has,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  been  arrived  at  by  estimating  the  depth  of  the  bottom  of 
the  sewer  from  the  level  of  the  surface  of  the  street.  Officers  of  the  Croton 
Aqueduct  Department,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  the  informa- 
tion contained  in  this  portion  of  my  report,  inform  me  that  my  calcula- 
tions are  nearly  correct.  They  informed  me  that  in  all  cases  where  pos- 
sible the  bottom  of  each  sewer  is  laid  at  a  depth  of  thirteen  feet  below  the 
level  of  the  street.  To  this  there  are  two  exceptions :  First.  To  drain  a 
basin  lying  behind  a  ridge  of  land,  it  sometimes  becomes  necessary  to 
build  a  sewer  at  a  greater  depth  through  the  intervening  ridge.  Second. 
On  approaching  the  rivers,  and  where  the  ground  lies  too  low,  as  in  a  large 
part  of  the  Third  District,  the  sewer  cannot  be  built  at  so  great  a  depth. 
I  have  taken  the  estimate  of  thirteen  feet  as  the  proper  depth  of  the  bot- 
tom of  the  sewers,  and  have  represented  all  the  sewers  in  the  streets  hav- 
ing a  less  elevation  above  high  water-mark,  as  being  reached  by  the  river 
water  at  high  tide.  "When  the  river  is  above  this  level,  it  is  well  known 
that  several  of  these  sewers  are  entirely  full  of  water,  and  unable  to  carry 
off  the  surface  water  in  case  of  heavy  rains  ;  and  consequently  the  streets 
and  cellars  in  such  localities  are  frequently  overflowed.  On  several  of 
these  streets  it  has  for  the  same  reason  been  necessary  to  place  traps,  &c, 
on  the  sewer  connections, to  prevent  the  flow  of  water  back  into  the  houses 
or  cellars.  By  referring  to  the  map  it  will  be  seen  that  tide-water  runs 
up  the  sewer  in  Canal  Street  as  far  as  Broadway,  spreading  north  through 
Thompson  and  Laurens  Streets  as  far  as  Spring  Street,  and  through  the 
other  streets  to  a  somewhat  less  extent ;  also  ruuning  south  through  West 
Broadway  as  far  as  Thomas  Street,  there  meeting  the  tide  coming  directly 
from  the  river.    Adding  to  these  facts  the  flow  of  tide-water  into  the 


DRAINAGE. — INFLUENCES  ON  HEALTH. 


23 


branch  sewers,  and  in  all  the  sewers  within  two  to  four  squares  of  the 
river,  it  will  be  seen  that  two-thirds  of  the  sewer  surface  of  this  district  is 
reached  by  salt  water.  All  the  sewers  of  the  Third  District  empty  into 
the  slips  between  the  wharfs  along  the  North  River,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  the  Canal  Street  sewer  and  its  connections,  which  empty  at  the 
head  of  the  long  pier  at  the  foot  of  Canal  Street,  and  in  deep  water. 
This  system  of  emptying  the  sewage  into  the  slips  is  a  prolific  source 
of  offence  to  the  senses  and  of  disease  to  the  district,  and  also  keeps  the 
city  at  continual  and  great  expense  for  the  necessary  dredging  to  keep  them 
navigable  and  prevent  their  filling  up.  The  Croton  Aqueduct  Department, 
however,  is  desirous  of  correcting  this,  by  building  sewers  along  the  river 
front,  to  cut  off  the  present  sewers,  and  carry  their  discharge  to  certain 
points,  as  at  the  Battery,  &c,  where  their  contents  can  be  at  once  thrown 
into  free  currents  of  deep  water,  thus  avoiding  these  difficulties.  This  sys- 
tem regards  the  sewage  as  of  no  value,  but  the  time  will  probably  soon 
arrive  when  some  plan  will  be  desirable  to  save  it  and  make  it  valuable. 

Influence  of  Topographical  Characteristics  of  this  District  on  Health. — 
The  influence  of  the  peculiar  formation  of  this  district  upon  the  public 
health  has  been  marked.  Those  portions  reclaimed  from  the  swamp  and 
river  being  undesirable  for  a  good  class  of  population,  have  been  conse- 
quently built  upon  by  an  inferior  class  of  buildings,  and  occupied  by  people 
too  ignorant  or  indifferent  as  to  consequences  to  seek  to  avoid  them.  The 
observations  of  physicians  and  sanitary  officers,  however,  have  shown 
that  such  sections  of  the  city  are,  in  case  of  epidemic  diseases,  always  the 
first  to  be  attached,  and  that  they  invariably  present  the  greater  number 
and  more  severe  class  of  cases.  During  the  various  epidemics  of  fevers, 
cholera,  influenza,  &c,  that  have  visited  this  city,  these  sections  have 
furnished  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  patients,  and  a  still  larger  pro- 
portion of  the  fatal  cases.  During  the  recent  and  present  prevalence  of 
typhus  and  typhoid  fevers,  I  have  noticed  that  the  number  and  severity  of 
cases  have  borne  a  direct  relation  to  the  nature  of  the  ground  upon  which 
they  occurred.  Our  hygrometers,  which  have  been  in  constant  use  in  the 
worst  sections  of  this  district,  indicate  more  than  twice  the  amount  of 
moisture  in  the  atmosphere  given  by  the  standard  instrument  kept  at  the 
Eastern  Dispensary.  Such  diseases  as  cholera  infantum,  fevers,  &c, 
especially  of  children,  always  prevail  most  extensively  in  such  moist  local- 
ities, not  to  speak  of  rheumatism,  scrofula,  and  pulmonary  diseases,  which 
arc  generally  recognized  as  being  specially  dependent  upon  exposure  to 
cold  and  wet. 

Streets. — The  streets  of  the  Third  District  arc  laid  out,  more  or  less, 
at  right  angles  with  each  other — ruuuiug  north  and  south,  or  cast  and 


24 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


west.  They  vary  in  width  from  forty  to  eighty  feet,  except  Canal  Street, 
which  is  much  wider.  The  greater  number  of  the  streets  are  paved  with 
cobble  stones  ;  and,  at  the  time  of  this  survey,  were  found  in  pretty  good 
repair,  except  West  Street  and  its  immediate  neighborhood,  which  is  con- 
siderably lower  than  the  proper  grade,  and  is  in  very  bad  order.  Those 
sections  of  the  different  streets,  however,  where  there  are  tenant-houses, 
are  always  wet  and  filthy  from  garbage  and  slops  that  are  thrown  into  the 
street.  Broadway,  Washington,  Greenwich,  and  Worth  Streets,  in  their 
full  length,  in  this  district,  have  been  repaved  with  the  trap-block  pave- 
ment ;  and  portions  of  Desbrosses,  Reade,  Duane,  North  Moore,  and  Jay 
Streets,  have  been  similarly  paved.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  kind  of 
pavement  will,  as  soon  as  possible,  replace  the  cobble-stone  pavement,  as 
it  lias  proved  to  be  not  only  by  far  the  most  durable,  but  it  is  much  more 
easily  kept  clean,  and  does  not  accumulate  in  the  interstices  such  a  quan- 
tity of  the  foul  matters  of  the  streets.  The  connection  of  civic  cleanli- 
ness with  civic  health  is  too  evident  to  be  questioned  at  this  day.  Under 
my  own  observ  ation  in  this  district,*  the  widening  and  repaving  of  various 
streets  have  been  followed  by  the  most  marked  improvement  in  the  health 
of  not  only  those  streets,  but  of  the  whole  immediate  neighborhood.  It 
is  true  that  the  population  of  this  section  was  greatly  diminished  by  these 
improvements,  but  those  that  remained  have  not  shown  half  the  propor- 
tional amount  of  sickness,  although  of  a  class  more  subject  to  disease 
than  the  original  residents. 

Squares. — The  number  of  squares  in  the  Third  District  is  74.  Of 
these  32  are  in  a  good,  25  in  a  mixed,  and  17  iu  a  bad  condition,  as 
regards  sanitary  considerations.  I  report  as  bad  those  squares  in  which, 
from  the  character  of  the  soil,  buildings,  and  population,  more  than  the 
average  amount  of  disease  prevails.  Those  squares  arc  regarded  as  mixed 
in  which  the  same  causes  prevail  to  a  partial  extent,  or  where,  from  the  en- 
croachments of  business  property,  or  from  other  causes,  the  population  is 
mostly  removed.   All  others  are  regarded  as  being  in  a  good  sanitary  state. 

Inhabitants. — The  population  of  the  Third  District  has  undergone, 
and  is  now  undergoing,  great  and  rapid  changes.  Originally  settled  by  a 
native-born  population,  the  greater  numbers  of  residents  arc  now  of  for- 
eign birth,  or  children  of  foreign  parentage.  The  colored  population, 
formerly  so  numerous  in  the  Fifth  Ward,  has  almost  disappeared, 
a  few  scattered  tenant-buildings — not  more  than  twenty-five  in  number — 
containing  all  that  arc  left.  The  large  number  of  houses  of  prostitution 
west  of  Broadway,  for  which  this  district  was,  not  long  ago,  so  notorious, 

•  The  Inspector  has  been  sixteen  years  connected  with  the  New  York  Dispensary,  and 
daily  engaged  in  professional  duty  in  this  part  of  the  city. — Editor. 


THE  INHABITANTS. — TENANT-HOUSES. 


25 


is  also  rapidly  disappearing  from  this  section  of  the  city,  their  former 
inhabitants  being  replaced  by  foreigners,  and  they,  again,  being  soon 
crowded  out  by  the  encroachments  of  mercantile  business. 

Tenant-Houses. — Nearly  all  the  houses  remaining  in  the  district  have 
been  altered  for  tenant-houses,  or  are  now  occupied  as  boarding-houses, 
or  for  business  purposes.  Large  tenant-houses,  which  accommodate  more 
than  six  or  eight  families  each,  are  comparatively  scarce,  there  only  being 
about  forty  of  such  character.  All  others  reported  as  tenant-houses,  are 
small  in  size,  the  greater  number  being  altered  from  private  residences, 
or  occupied  by  several  families,  without  alteration.  Most  of  the  large 
tenant-houses  are  located  in  the  neighborhood  of  "West  Broadway,  from 
Leonard  to  Thomas  Streets,  or  near  Greenwich  Street ;  the  others  being 
scattered  throughout  the  district. 

I  have  reported  450  houses  as  being  tenant-houses  ;  being  such  houses 
as  contained  tbree  or  more  families.  With  the  exceptions  noted,  these 
were  formerly  occupied  as  private  residences,  or  by  two  or  three  families  ; 
but,  with  the  changes  of  population,  the  greater  number  of  them  have 
been  filled  with  as  many  families  as  there  are  rooms  to  accommodate 
them,  many  of  the  families  having  no  other  sleeping-apartment  than  that 
occupied  as  the  kitchen  and  living-room.  In  some  of  these  houses  the 
Croton-water  and  waste-pipes  have  been  introduced,  but  in  most  of  them 
the  Croton-water  is  introduced  only  to  the  court-yard,  or  area.  In  other 
respects  these  houses  remain  as  built  long  ago  for  private  families.  As  a 
consequence,  ventilation  is  very  imperfect,  from  the  doors  between  rooms 
being  always  closed ;  water-closets  are  too  few  in  number,  and  filthy, 
from  being  used  by  so  many  persons  ;  and  the  houses  become  more  and 
more  dilapidated,  until  many  of  them,  in  the  neighborhoods  where  busi- 
ness is  encroaching,  are  in  part  or  entirely  unfit  for  human  habitation. 

Number  and  Classification  of  the  Houses. — Including  the  450 
noted  as  tenant-houses,  there  are  1,244  dwelling-houses  in  the  district,  95 
of  them  being  rear  buildings.  The  larger  number  of  those  not  noted  as 
tenant-houses  are  occupied  for  boarding-houses,  there  being  comparatively 
few  which  can  properly  be  reported  as  private  houses.  Many  of  the 
objections  relating  .to  tenant-houses  also  apply  to  the  boarding-houses, 
except  that  the  latter  are  kept  in  a  more  cleanly  condition.  Still,  they 
are  necessarily  overcrowded  and  deficient  in  most  of  the  accommodations 
needed  for  a  perfect  state  of  health  in  the  occupants. 

There  are  also  many  buildings  occupied  for  stores,  offices,  &c,  in 
which  a  family  is  living  who  take  charge  of  the  building,  keep  the  passages 
clean,  &c,  which  I  have  not  reported  as  dwelling-houses.  There  are 
also  several  buildings  occupied  by  fire  companies,  in  which  some  of  tho 


26 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


members  always  lodge,  which  are  not  included  as  dwellings.  The  actual 
number  of  the  population  of  the  district  I  made  no  effort  to  ascertain,  as 
the  time  allowed  was  too  limited,  and  I  had  none  of  the  necessary  facul- 
ties for  such  investigation.  The  figures  given  in  the  last  United  States 
Census  would  be  very  incorrect,  as  the  changes  produced  since  that  was 
taken,  by  the  encroachments  of  business  property,  &c,  have  been  very 
rapid  and  extensive.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  average  num- 
ber of  inhabitants  to  each  house  would  be  high,  as  would  be  expected 
from  my  statements  in  regard  to  the  character  of  the  population.  From 
the  same  reasons,  no  investigation  has  been  made  in  regard  to  the  num- 
ber of  people  occupying  basements  and  cellars — a  subject  needing  inves- 
tigation, and  which  would  repay  full  and  careful  inquiry. 

Liquor  Stores. — There  are  341  places  in  the  Third  District  in  which 
liquor  is  retailed,  including  groceries,  restaurants,  and  hotels  and  dram- 
shops. Tliis  is  a  very  large  number  in  proportion  to  the  population, 
being  one  to  less  than  four  (1  to  3-65)  dwellings.  However,  it  must  be 
remembered  that,  owing  to  the  situation  of  the  district,  large  numbers  of 
their  patrons  are  from  outside  the  district.  Thus  a  great  many  of  the 
liquor-saloons  are  located  along  or  near  the  river,  and  are  almost  entirely 
supported  by  boatmen  and  persons  employed  along  the  docks,  &c. ;  many 
other  saloons  are  located  on  the  line  of  Broadway,  Canal  Street,  and 
other  thoroughfares,  which  derive  a  large  support  from  the  transient  popu- 
lation and  persons  employed  in  the  stores  in  the  neighborhood. 

Brothels. — I  report  81  as  the  number  of  buildings  occupied  exclu- 
sively as  houses  of  prostitution  in  this  district.  This  number  is  probably 
below  the  truth,  from  the  difficulty  of  ascertaining,  with  the  means  at  my 
disposal,  which  houses  were  thus  occupied.  I  have  also  not  included  in 
the  number  a  large  number  of  houses  occupied  only  in  part  for  such  pur- 
poses. It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  in  many  of  the  tenant-houses  of  this 
district  such  persons  occupy  suites  of  apartments  interspersed  with  thoso 
of  the  respectable  laboring-classes,  and  frequently  difficult  to  be  distin- 
guished from  them,  except  upon  a  more  searching  investigation  than  this 
survey  could  give.  During  the  last  few  years,  a  large  proportion  of  tho 
more  notorious  brothels  have  been  removed  from  this  .district  to  the  upper 
parts  of  the  city,  the  houses  being  now  occupied  by  tho  laboring-classes, 
or  for  business  purposes. 

Stores  and  Commercial  Warehouses. — Thcro  are  283  buildings 
in  this  district  occupied  exclusively  for  commercial  purposes.  There  arc 
also  294  small  stores,  of  various  kinds,  occupying  parts  of  buildings.  Of 
these  29  arc  meat  and  vegetable  markets  exclusively,  there  being  no  largo 
market-building  in  the  district ;  although  Clinton  Market,  at  tho  foot  of 


COMMERCE. — NUISANCES,  ETC. 


27 


Canal  Street,  is  just  north  of  this  southern  section  (A)  of  the  Third  Dis- 
trict, and  "Washington  Market,  at  the  foot  of  Fulton  Street,  is  not  far 
removed,  both  of  them  being  largely  patronized  by  the  residents  of  this 
district.  There  are  also  87  groceries,  of  which  nearly  all  sell  liquor,  and 
many  deal  in  meat  and  vegetables. 

Factories. — There  are  151  manufactories  and  workshops  of  various 
kinds  in  the  district,  many  of  them  occupying  only  parts  of  buildings, 
used  otherwise  for  trade  or  residences. 

Of  these  6  are  sugar-refineries,  &c. ;  11  boiler  and  machine  shops  ;  26 
carpenters,  joiners,  and  box  manufactories  ;  2  large  coffee  and  spice  mills  ; 
2  distilleries ;  1  brewery ;  3  oil  and  lard  works ;  12  blacksmith  and 
wheelwright  shops  ;  2  tobacco  and  snuff  manufactories ;  5  smoking  and 
provision  establishments  ;  14  artificial  flower,  feather,  and  leaf  manufac- 
tories ;  and  the  remaining  67  are  manufactories  of  various  kinds,  too 
numerous  to  be  particularized. 

Stables. — There  are  108  stables,  or  ranges  of  single-stall  stables,  in 
this  district.  Of  these  68  contain  each  less  than  5  horses,  or  202  horses 
in  the  aggregate ;  and  40  contain  each  5  or  more  horses,  or  383  in  the 
aggregate.  These  stables  are  scattered  pretty  generally  over  the  district, 
there  being  few  squares  without  one  or  more  of  them.  There  are  certain 
neighborhoods,  however,  which  contain  a  large  number  upon  a  small 
area.  Such  is  the  neighborhood  of  Greenwich  Street  from  Desbrosses 
to  Vestry  Streets,  where  3  squares  contain  16  ranges  of  stables,  accom- 
modating 117  horses.  Also,  in  the  neighborhood  of  West  Broadway 
from  Beach  to  Worth  Streets,  where  6  squares  contain  19  stables,  with 
163  horses.  Most  of  the  larger  stables  are  kept  in  a  quite  cleanly  and 
comfortable  condition,  but  the  greater  number  of  small  stables  are  crowded 
together,  and  their  surroundings  are  frequently  neglected  and  uncleanly. 
In  regard  to  the  influence  of  stables  upon  the  public  health,  I  think  that 
I  have,  in  many  cases,  traced  to  their  influence  (especially  when  occupied 
by  sick  and  disabled  horses)  an  earlier  invasion  and  increased  prevalence 
of  such  diseases  as  scarlatina  and  diphtheria.  However,  further  investi- 
gation and  much  more  extended  observation  over  a  larger  field,  is  neces- 
sary to  decisively  settle  this  point. 

Nuisances. — There  are  no  slaughter  houses,  gas  manufactories,  or 
bone  and  fat-boiling  establishments  in  or  near  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  this  district,  in  any  manner  or  degree  influencing  its  health.  Such 
causes  as  do  produce  such  influence  are  connected  with  the  topography, 
character  of  the  population,  and  condition  of  the  piers,  shps,  and  sewers, 
which  we  have  already  noted. 

Public  Buildings. — Of  public  buildings  there  arc  but  few.  There 
is  one  Police  Station-house  on  Leonard  Street,  badly  arranged  for  the 


28 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRD  SAJS1TTAKY  DISTRICT. 


health  of  its  occupants,  hoth  as  regards  its  own  internal  arrangements 
and  its  immediate  sm-roundings.  There  is  a  large  hospital  with  several 
buildings,  known  as  the  New  York  Hospital,  on  the  square  hounded  by 
Broadway,  Worth,  Church,  and  Duane  Streets.  These  buildings  arc 
finely  situated,  both  as  regards  the  location  of  the  ground  and  their  in- 
ternal arrangements  for  the  comfort  and  health  of  the  inmates.  A  de- 
tailed report  is  unnecessary  in  this  place.  There  are  only  two  church 
edifices  in  this  district ;  both  front  on  St.  John's  Park,  and  both  are  well 
located  for  light  and  ventilation.  There  are  also  two  Mission  Churches 
occupying  lofts  of  buildings  otherwise  used  for  business  purposes  ;  and  a 
floating  chapel  for  seamen  and  others  at  the  foot  of  Laight  Street.  As 
regards  School  Buildings,  there  is  one  large  Ward  School  on  North  Moore 
and  Varick  Streets,  with  an  extension  running  through  to  West  Broadway. 
This  school  is  of  the  first  class,  accommodating  nearly  two  thousand 
pupils.  There  are  two  Public  Primary  Schools,  one  occupying  a  building 
erected  for  that  purpose  on  Greenwich  Street  between  Desbrosses  and 
Watts  Streets  ;  the  other  occupying  a  building  altered  from  a  private  resi- 
dence in  Varick  Street  near  Canal.  Both  these  buildings  are  badly  arranged 
for  ventilation  and  light,  having  windows,  &c,  only  on  front  and  rear. 
There  is  one  Primary  School  fbr  colored  children  on  Franklin  Street,  be- 
tween West  Broadway  and  Hudson  Street,  occupying  a  small  two-story 
building  erected  for  a  dwelling-house,  and  necessarily  badly  arranged  and 
ventilated  for  such  a  purpose.  St.  John's  Episcopal  Church  has  also 
connected  with  it  a  Parish  School,  occupying  a  building  in  the  rear  of  the 
church.  Two  Mission  and  Industrial  Schools  occupying  lofts  of  stores, 
badly  arranged  but  occupied  only  on  certain  days,  complete  the  list  of  free 
schools  in  the  district.  There  are  19  Hotels  in  the  district,  varying  in 
size  and  capable  of  accommodating  from  25  to  250  lodgers  each  at  one 
time.  Many  of  these  being  altered  from  private  houses  are  badly  ven- 
tilated and  miserably  arranged  for  hotel  purposes. 

Parks. — The  Third  District  cannot  be  said  to  have  any  public  parks. 
St.  John's  Park,  bounded  by  Hudson,  Laight,  Varick,  and  Beach  Streets, 
is  a  private  square  not  belonging  to  the  city,  and  kept  closed  to  all  except 
the  occupants  of  the  surrounding  houses,  &c.  This  park,  however,  in 
connection  with  the  grounds  surrounding  St.  John's  Church,  and  thoso 
belonging  to  the  New  York  Hospital,  are  kept  in  the  cleanest  and  best 
manner,  and  are  valuable  breathing  spots  for  this  section  of  the  city. 

Piers  and  Surs. — The  piers,  wharves,  &c,  fronting  the  Third 
District,  arc  generally  in  a  dilapidated  and  neglected  condition,  though  u 
few  occupied  by  steamship  lines  aro  kept  in  very  good  order,  being  en- 
closed with  sheds  and  gateways.    All  the  piers,  however,  being  built  of 


FAULTY  WHARVES. — FEVER. — SMALL-POX. 


29 


wood,  necessarily  furnish  a  large  amount  of  decaying  vegetable  matter, 
which  is  known  to  be  a  prolific  source  of  disease.  The  slips,  in  conse- 
quence of  receiving  the  sewage  of  the  district  and  surrounding  parts  of 
the  city,  are  generally  foul,  and  the  undoubted  source  of  much  sickness. 
I  have  seen  a  number  of  cases  of  severe  disease,  such  as  fevers,  conges- 
tions of  the  brain,  liver,  &c,  induced  by  bathing  or  getting  overboard  in 
the  slips  of  this  district. 

Prevailing  Diseases. — The  prevailing  diseases  of  the  Third  Dis- 
trict during  the  past  year  have  been  as  follows  :  Small-pox  has  prevailed 
more  extensively  than  for  many  years  back.  One  centre  of  this  disease  was 
in  the  neighborhood  of  West  Broadway,  Thomas,  and  Leonard  Streets ; 
and  another  centre  at  Greenwich,  Watts,  and  Desbrosses  Streets ;  with 
scattering  cases  over  the  whole  western  part  of  the  district.  Typhus  and 
typhoid  fevers  have  been  prevalent  over  the  whole  district,  but  more 
particularly  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  lower  half  of  West  Broadway, 
and  between  Greenwich  Street  and  the  Hudson  Biver.  The  remitting 
fever  of  children  has  been  as  usual  almost  universal  in  the  tenant- 
houses  of  the  district,  more  especially  during  the  Spring  and  Fall. 
Diarrhoeal  diseases,  including  cholera  morbus,  &c,  commenced  early  in 
the  season  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Hudson  Biver,  gradu- 
ally spreading  thence  over  the  whole  district.  These  diseases  affected 
nearly  every  house  and  family  coming  under  my  observation  as  Visiting 
Physician  for  the  New  York  Dispensary.  This  curious  fact  of  this  class 
of  disease,  commencing  on  the  western  border  of  the  city  and  thence 
gradually  spreading  toward  the  eastern  side,  has  been  noticed  in  other 
parts  of  the  city.  Scarlatina,  erysipelas,  and  kindred  diseases,  were 
prevalent  early  in  the  season,  but  disappeared  as  warm  weather  advanced. 
These  diseases  were  more  or  less  prevalent  in  tenant-houses  in  propor- 
tion to  the  crowding  of  their  population,  cleanliness,  &c.  The  amount  of 
sickness  in  different  houses  of  the  same  neighborhood  is  very  various,  in 
some  cases  being  not  more  than  twenty  per  cent.,  and  in  others  reaching 
as  high  as  two  hundred  per  cent,  per  annum.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for 
this  on  a  superficial  examination,  but  the  character,  occupation,  temper- 
ance, cleanliness,  &c,  of  the  inhabitants  of  neighboring  houses  vary 
greatly,  and  are  a  pretty  close  indication  of  the  amount  and  kind  of  pre- 
vailing sickness  to  be  found  in  any  particular  house.  Different  houses 
vary  greatly  also  as  to  their  facilities  for  ventilation  ;  the  number  of  in- 
habitants in  basements  and  on  first  floors  ;  the  location  and  care  of  water- 
closets,  sinks,  cesspools,  &c. ;  their  connection  with  smoking  and  pro- 
vision establishments,  and  other  kinds  of  business  locations  ;  the  width, 
cleanliness,  and  kind  of  pavement  in  the  streets ;  the  proximity  of  the 


30 


EEPOET  OF  THE  THIRD  SAXITAKY  DISTRICT. 


river ;  the  character  of  material  and  state  of  repair  of  the  building  itself 
and  its  accessories  ;  the  arrangement  of  the  rooms,  bedrooms,  and  halls  ; 
and  various  other  causes  of  interference  with  health.  A  thorough  inves- 
tigation into  all  such  particulars  would  be  necessary  to  arrive  at  any  just 
or  valuable  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  causes  of  disease  and  death.  A 
large  number  of  such  searching  investigations  have  been  made  and  are 
now  making  under  the  direction  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene  and  Public 
Health  of  the  New  York  Citizens'  Association,  and  cannot  fail  to  give 
valuable  results  when  fully  tabulated  and  compared.* 

*  The  Map  or  diagram  on  opposite  page  has  been  prepared  to  illustrate,  more  distinctly 
than  could  be  done  by  words,  the  intimate  connection  of  one  of  the  small-pox  and  typhus 
fever  centres  of  the  Third  District  with  the  wholesale  dry  goods  section  of  New  York  City. 
The  largest  wholesale  establishments  for  the  sale  of  dry  goods  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  are  here  seen  to  come  in  immediate  contact  with  the  tenant-houses  of  the  worst  class, 
and  which  are  infested  with  small-pox  and  typhus  fever.  The  diagram  also  shows  that  two 
freight  depots  and  the  principal  passenger  depot  of  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  Company 
are  in  the  same  close  association  with  these  nests  of  infection.  In  the  region  immediately 
surrounding  that  represented  on  the  map  are  also  situated  several  hotels,  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  boarding-houses,  whose  inmates  are  thus  in  danger  of  personal  contact  with  these 
diseases  at  any  moment. 

West  Broadway,  running  through  the  very  centre  of  the  district,  is  traversed  by  fivo 
different  lines  of  city  railway  cars,  with  an  average  of  five  cars  passing  every  minute,  and 
carrying  millions  of  passengers  yearly  by  the  very  doors  of  these  houses.  Broadway,  at 
but  a  short  distance  removed,  is  the  principal  thoroughfare  of  the  city.  Hudson  Street 
on  the  west  is  also  a  leading  route  for  city  travel ;  and  the  cross  streets  of  the  district  are 
traversed  daily  by  multitudes  to  reach  various  lines  of  steamboats,  cars,  and  steamships, 
which  leave  the  city  opposite  this  point. 

All  this  large  amount  of  daily  travel  passes  through  a  region  always  containing  casc9 
of  typhus  fever,  and  largely  infected  with  small-pox.  Is  it  any  cause  of  surprise  that 
cases  of  these  diseases  are  here  contracted,  to  be  carried  to  distant  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, there  to  develop  themselves  to  the  surprise  and  alarm  of  whole  neighborhoods  ?  It  is 
also  well  to  remember  that  several  large  livery  stables  are  located  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood, whose  vehicles  it  is  well  known  are  frequently  employed  to  carry  persons  sufi'er- 
ing  from  these  diseases  to  hospital,  or  to  attend  at  funerals.  These  vehicles  are,  perhaps, 
immediately  afterwards  driven  to  the  various  car  and  steamboat  hues  to  secure  passengers, 
who  are  thus  exposed  in  the  most  dangerous  manner  to  these  diseases.  Could  the  intelli- 
gent community  but  realize  the  danger  to  which  they  are  thus  exposed  whenever  they  visit 
the  city,  certainly  they  would  insist  that  some  measures  should  be  taken  for  their  safety 
and  that  of  the  large  section  of  the  country  under  the  immediate  influence  of  this  city. 
It  seems  certain  at  present  that  the  residents  of  the  city  cannot  or  will  not  protect  them- 
selves. The  map  illustrates  the  prevalence  of  these  diseases  for  only  one  year,  from  No- 
vember 1st,  1863,  to  November  1st,  1864.* 


•  For  explanation  of  the  tymhoU  employed  to  designate  tho  purposes  for  which  each  building  In 
the  squares  Is  at  present  occupied,  see  remarks  at  bottom  of  tho  diagram.— Editoil 


FOOT-PRINTS  OF  TYPHUS  AND  SMALL-POX. 


31 


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BROADWAY. 


32  EEPOET  OF  THE  THERD  SANITAEY  DISTEICT. 

Statistical  Recapitulation  {3d  District). 


Squares,            .......  74 

"      In  Good  Sanitary  Condition,          ...  32 

"      Very  Bad     "           "            ....  17 

"     Mixed         "           "                ...  25 

No.  of  Houses,  .......  1,244 

"          Tenant,       .          .  450 

"          Rear,     ......  95 

Places  where  Liquor  is  Retailed,      ....  341 

Brothels,           .......  81 

Buildings  occupied  for  Business  Purposes  only,        .          .  283 

Stores  occupying  only  parts  of  Buildings,          .          .          .  294 

Meat  and  Vegetable  Markets,          ....  29 

Groceries,         .......  87 

Manufactories  and  Workshops,        .          .          .          .  151 

Stables,            .......  108 

Horses,       .......  585 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

THIED  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT.    [Section  B.] 


B.    M.    KEENEY,    M.  D . , 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — North  by  Spring  Street,  east  by  Broadway,  south  by 
Canal  Street,  west  by  the  North  River.  This  Section  [B]  of  the  Third 
District  comprises  the  southern  segment  of  the  Eighth  Ward.  There  are  33 
squares  of  buildings  embraced  in  it. 

Topography. — The  principal  portion  of  this  district  consisted  origi- 
nally of  swamp  and  marshy  ground.  A  sand-hill  rose  gradually  from 
the  low  meadow  line  and  extended  to  a  point  near  the  corner  of  Broad- 
way and  Broome,  some  GO  feet  above  the  present  grade.  Another  of  a 
gravelly  drift  rising  in  the  vicinity  of  Clark  Street,  had  its  greatest 
elevation  north  of  Spring.  The  Lispenard  Meadow,*  for  such  was  the 
name  of  the  low  swampy  land,  extended  hoth  north  and  south  of  Canal 
Street,  and  entering  this  section  a  few  feet  south  of  Howard  Street  on 
Broadway,  it  took  a  westerly  direction  from  Mercer  ;  the  line  rrn  northerly 
crossing  Wooster  one-third  way  from  Broome  to  Spring  Streets,  thence 
northwesterly  to  Laurens ;  thence  southwesterly  to  a  point  a  few  feet 
south  of  the  southwest  corner  of  Broome  and  Thompson ;  thence  north- 
west to  Sullivan,  thence  southwesterly  to  the  centre  of  the  square  between 
Sullivan  and  Varick,  Broome  and  Watts  ;  thence  northwest  to  the  middle 
of  the  square  between  Varick  and  Hudson,  north  of  Dominick  ;  thence 
southwesterly  and  westerly  to  the  river  at  Greenwich  Street.  The  shore 
line  ran  due  north  and  south  just  at  the  westerly  edge  of  Greenwich  Street, 
thereby  showing  that  the  two  squares,  one  of  which  is  now  the  site  of 
Clinton  Market,  and  the  other  between  Greenwich  and  Washington 

*  See  Dr.  Harriot's  Map  of  Hue  Hard  District. 

3 


34 


EEPOET  OF  THE  THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Streets,  were  reclaimed  from  the  river.  The  meadow  was  covered  more 
or  less  by  water  with  the  rising  of  the  tide.  The  outlet  of  the  Collect 
took  its  course  about  the  line  of  Canal  Street  flowing  to  the  river.  A 
stone  bridge  at  Broadway  was  once  the  only  means  of  crossing  the  stream  ; 
afterwards  bridges  at  Church  Street  and  at  other  points  were  built. 

The  greater  part  of  these  low  lands  were  filled  in  with  the  earth  from 
the  surrounding  hills,  while  the  two  squares  reclaimed  from  the  river 
were  filled  in  at  a  later  date,  in  part  by  the  refuse  and  rubbish  from  old 
buildings,  cellars,  etc. 

The  original  level  was  low.  The  Avhole  surface  inclines  gently  towards 
Canal  Street,  with  a  difference  between  tide-water  elevations  of  20  feet  6 
inches  on  Broadway,  between  Canal  and  Spring  (Canal  10  feet  6  inches, 
Spring  31  feet  above  tide-water).  Besides  inclining  toward  Canal  it 
slopes  from  Broadway  toward  Thompson  Street,  with  a  difference  be- 
tween the  above-mentioned  streets  of  19  feet  on  Spring  and  3  feet  3 
inches  on  Canal  Street.  From  Thompson  Street  westerly  the  grade 
ascends  till  we  reach  a  line  extending  from  the  foot  of  Sullivan  to  the 
corner  of  Clark  and  Spring  Streets  (23  feet  3  inches  above  tide- water). 
From  this  line  the  inclination  of  the  surface  is  gradually  toward  the  river 
4  feet  above  tide-level.  That  this  district,  with  more  than  one-half  made- 
ground,  in  many  places  but  a  few  feet  from  the  original  swampy  land  and 
but  6  feet  above  tide-water,  with  several  sewers  that  never  more  than 
half  empty  their  contents,  should  be  the  locality  of  a  great  number  of  in- 
salubrious quarters,  and  the  source  of  pestilential  and  infectious  diseases, 
would  naturally  be  supposed,  and  which  is  confirmed  by  observations  and 
statistics  herewith. 

Streets. — The  streets  are  all  narrow,  varying  from  40  to  GO  feet,  ex- 
cepting that  part  of  Broome  between  Broadway  and  Wooster,  which  is 
some  75  feet  wide.  Canal  Street,  the  southern  boundary  of  this  section, 
some  GO  feet  wide  at  Broadway,  gradually  widens  to  the  river.  Spring, 
Broome,  and  Grand  run  parallel  with  each  other  in  a  northwesterly  direc- 
tion till  they  reach  Sullivan,  then  inclining  westerly  to  their  terminations. 
Mercer,  Greene,  Wooster,  Laurens,  Thompson,  and  Sullivan  arc  parallel 
to  each  other,  running  northeasterly  from  Canal  Street.  Clark,  Varick, 
Hudson,  Bcnwick,  Greenwich,  "Washington,  and  West  all  run  nearly  north 
and  south.  The  narrow  streets,  like  Thompson,  through  which  a  double 
car-track  is  laid,  do  not  allow  room  for  a  wagon  to  pass  a  car  on  cither 
side  next  to  the  walk.  Laurens,  Wooster,  Clark,  and  Sullivan  are  in  a 
most  filthy  condition,  giving  off'  insalubrious  emanations  on  which,  per- 
haps, depend  the  many  cases  of  fever,  cholera  infantum,  dyscntory,  and 
pulmonary  diseases.    I  have  observed  that  near  where  other  streets  cross 


ORIGINAL  TOPOGRAPHY. — SEWERAGE. 


35 


the  above-named  streets  there  is  a  greater  proportionate  amount  of  sick- 
ness ;  and  this  fact  I  have  shown  by  special  reports  of  typhus  and  typhoid 
fever  in  Grand  and  Broome,  and  dysentery  in  Spring. 

Pavements. — Broadway,  "Washington,  and  Greenwich  are  paved  with 
trap-block  pavement,  all  other  streets  with  cobble  stones,  which  in  many 
places  are  badly  in  need  of  repair.  Some  of  the  streets,  like  Sullivan, 
Thompson,  Laurens,  and  Watts,  are  higher  at  the  corners  than  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  block,  allowing  the  accumulations  of  slops  and  waste  in  the  gut- 
ters along  the  street,  that  would  otherwise  find  its  way  to  the  sewer.  I 
would  recommend  in  such  cases  where  it  is  impracticable  to  raise  the 
grade,  that  a  culvert  or  drain  be  made  connecting  with  the  sewer.  This 
would,  in  a  measure,  do  away  with  such  causes  of  insalubrity  as  arise 
from  pools  of  standing  water  and  vegetable  decay ;  a  striking  instance 
of  which  may  have  been  noticed  by  thousands  of  our  fellow-citizens  during 
the  past  summer  in  Thompson  Street,  while  tbe  Seventh  Avenue  car-track 
was  being  laid.  The  emanations  from  this  source  were  observable  several 
blocks  away,  and  were  attended  by  a  material  increase  of  sickness  on  that 
line  through  my  inspection  district. 

Sewerage. — The  streets  are  all  sewered,  excepting  Watts,  Lam-ens, 
Clark,  Sullivan  between  Spring  and  Broome  Streets,  Grand  between 
Thompson  and  Sullivan  Streets,  Spring  between  Broadway  and  Greene, 
Broome  between  Thompson  and  Sullivan,  Dominick  between  Clark  and 
Varick  Streets.  The  sewers  are  of  the  oval  form,  excepting  the  one  in 
Canal  Street,  which  is  built  with  a  stone  floor  sloping  toward  the  centre  ; 
its  sides  and  top  are  of  brick,  the  top  is  built  in  the  form  of  an  arch. 
The  Canal  Street  sewer  empties  at  the  head  of  the  pier  at  the  foot  of 
Canal  Street,  while  the  Spring  Street  sewer  empties  in  the  bulkhead ; 
both  below  ordinary  tide-water,  but  above  low-tide  level,  thus  allowing 
the  sewer  gas  to  escape,  which,  with  a  westerly  wind,  is  very  disagreea- 
ble to  the  people  of  the  immediate  neighborhood.  I  would  recommend 
that  in  locations  where  the  mouth  of  the  sewer  cannot  be  constructed 
below  low-tide  level,  a  covering  be  built  in  such  a  manner  as  to  extend 
into  the  water  even  at  low  tides,  at  the  same  time  allowing  sufficient 
room  for  the  free  passage  of  the  sewage.  This  plan  would  be  a  remedy 
against  the  stench  near  the  mouth  of  sewers,  and  would  also  prevent  the 
sewer  gas  from  being  driven  back  by  westerly  winds  into  houses  with- 
out traps. 

An  important  fact  in  regard  to  these  sewers  is,  that  the  tide  entering 
them  at  Canal  Street,  rises  in  the  sewers  of  Thompson,  Laurens,  and 
Wooster  Streets,  blocking  the  Thompson  Street  sewer  at  the  corner  of 
Broome,  and  resulting  in  the  overflow  of  the  cellars,  streets,  and  walks,  in 


36 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


case  of  a  heavy  fall  of  rain.  This  forcing  back  of  the  sewage  by  the 
tide,  affecting  the  drainage,  overflowing  cesspools  and  privies,  must  cer- 
tainly be  considered  a  great  source  of  insalubrity,  and  consequent  in- 
crease of  sickness  and  mortality  in  this  section.  That  the  atmosphere  is 
excessively  moist,  I  can  affirm  from  observations  made  with  the  hy- 
grometer at  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Thompson  Streets — the  average 
difference  between  the  dry  and  wet  bulbs  showing  5ii  degrees ;  whilo 
that  of  the  standard  hygrometer  at  the  Eastern  Dispensary,  for  the  same 
periods,  gave  an  average  of  7^  degrees.  The  difference  (11  degrees) 
between  the  average  of  the  two  hygrometers,  shows  the  greater  pro- 
portionate amount  of  moisture  at  the  corner  of  Broome  and  Thompson 
Streets. 

Observations  at  66  Grand  Street  (rear),  where  typhus  fever  had 
raged  to  some  extent,  gave  an  average  of  3-^  degrees  ;  that  of  the  stand- 
ard during  the  same  time,  6T97  degrees  ;  showing  excessive  humidity  by 
a  difference  of  3^  degrees  at  Grand  Street,  or  45  per  cent,  more  mois- 
ture than  shown  by  the  standard. 

As  a  remedial  measure,  I  would  recommend  that  the  mouths  of  the 
sewers  be  supplied  with  a  tidal  trap  or  floodgate,  opening  and  shutting 
with  the  rising  and  falling  of  the  tide.  I  am  confident  that  a  mechanical 
arrangement  might  be  devised  which  would  so  close  the  mouths  of  the 
sewers  as  to  prevent  any  reflow  of  sewage  or  water,  and  yet  be  self- 
acting,  opening  whenever  the  level  of  the  sewage  should  be  above  that  of 
the  river. 

The  tide  rising  would  so  close  this  trap  or  valve,  thus  shutting  off  the 
great  body  of  water  which  now  ebbs  and  flows  beneath  many  of  the 
streets  of  this  district.  The  public  health  would,  no  doubt,  be  materially 
enhanced  by  this  improvement. 

Sanitary  Characteristics  of  the  Several  Squares. — Of  the  33 
squares  that  arc  comprised  in  this  section,  7  of  them  arc  in  a  good,  7  in 
a  mixed,  and  19  of  them  in  a  bad  sanitary  condition.  The  first  and 
principal  cause  which  renders  the  squares  insalubrious,  is  the  deficiency 
of  proper  water  and  waste  privileges  and  drainage,  as  in  those  streets 
without  sewers — Clark,  Laurens,  Watts,  and  parts  of  other  streets ;  im- 
perfect surface-drainage,  as  in  Thompson,  Spring,  Sullivan,  Wooster,  and 
Broome.  In  all  of  these  streets  the  amount  of  sickness  has  been  greater 
than  in  well-drained  parts,  as  my  daily  reports  will  show.  Privies  that 
arc  not  connected  with  sCwcrs,  and  those  left  by  negligent  landlords  to 
overflow,  giving  off  their  offensive  and  unwholesome  gases,  instances  of 
which  were  at  No.  hi  Thompson  and  No.  GG  Grand,  where  typhus  and 
typhoid  consigned  to  tlic  grave  12  out  of  18  cases. 


CAUSES  OF  SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. — THE  PEOPLE. 


37 


The  second  cause  can  be  found  in  the  crowded  condition  of  the  tenant- 
houses,  as,  for  instance,  the  double-tenement  Nos.  44  and  46  Thompson, 
containing  45  families ;  No.  10  Thompson,  with  18  families  ;  No.  475 
Broome,  17  families;  and  hundreds  of  others  with  an  average  of  more 
than  6  families. 

The  third  cause  of  special  insalubrity  of  family  domiciles  is  the  crowded 
condition  of  the  apartments  ;  allowing  an  insufficiency  of  fresh  air,  as  at 
No.  59  Thompson,  where  spotted  fever  occurred,  I  found  eight  people  in  two 
small  basement  rooms  ;  and  in  the  same  court,  where  typhus  raged  last 
spring,  eight  people  were  living  in  one  attic  room,  the  roof  slanting  to  the 
floor,  preventing  the  occupants  from  standing  erect,  except  in  parts  of  the 
room.  Many  other  cases  I  might  mention  where  I  have  found  eight  or  more 
persons  living  and  sleeping  in  one  room.  It  is  very  common  to  find  a 
small  bedroom  where  four  or  five  people  sleep,  perhaps  some  of  them  on 
the  floor. 

The  fourth  cause  :  The  filthy  habits  of  the  occupants,  in  not  keeping 
their  persons  and  apartments  clean  ;  allowing  vermin  to  infest  every  thing. 
The  disposition  of  garbage  and  slops — often  being  thrown  out  of  a  back 
window  or  between  two  houses  in  close  proximity,  there  undergoing 
decomposition  and  generating  unhealthy  effluvia. 

Fifth  cause  :  The  vicious  habits  of  thousands  that  inhabit  this  section, 
and  who  follow  a  nightly  vocation  of  assignation,  thereby  contaminating 
and  spreading  widely  the  syphilitic  disease  and  other  maladies. 

The  Inhabitants. — The  population  of  this  section  is  made  up  of 
various  nationalities,  and  about  equally  divided  into  Americans,  foreign- 
ers, and  negroes.  About  one-third  of  these  are  of  the  laboring  class, 
consisting  mostly  of  foreigners  and  Americans.  The  majority  of  the 
retail  stores  are  kept  by  the  foreigners,  who  are  an  industrious  and  hard- 
working people.  The  Americans  are  mostly  of  old  and  respectable  fami- 
lies, living  in  their  own  houses,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  are  well  to  do, 
while  the  negroes  are  a  poor,  lazy  class,  gaining  their  livelihood  by  pur- 
suits attended  with  as  little  work  as  possible  ;  there  are,  however,  many 
exceptions  in  which  the  colored  people — the  washerwomen  especially — 
work  hard  for  all  they  have. 

The  disreputable  class  is  very  large,  as  101  brothels  in  part  testify. 
The  prostitutes,  however,  are  not  all  confined  to  brothels,  hundreds  of 
these  vicious  women  living  in  the  tenant-houses,  assuming  the  guise  of 
respectable  people  by  day  and  following  their  vocation  at  night.  This 
class  is  composed  of  nearly  all  nationalities,  not  excepting  our  own  ;  they 
lead  a  miserable  existence,  turning  night  into  day  by  their  sinful  practices 
and  grovelling  debaucheries,  thus  cutting  short,  as  statistics  prove,  their 
average  period  of  life. 


38 


EEPOET  OF  THE  THIRD  SANTTAEY  DISTRICT. 


The  moral  condition  of  many  portions  of  this  section  of  the  city  is 
lamentable  ;  abounding  with  thieves,  pickpockets,  gamblers,  and  all  sorts 
of  bad  men  and  women,  who  are  ready  to  do  any  thing  for  money.  The 
churches  are  few  and  small  considering  the  dense  population  ;  a  small 
proportion  of  the  population  is  of  the  church-going  class.  The  crowding 
of  people  into  tenant-houses  has  a  great  tendency  to  moral  as  well  as  phys- 
ical depravity  in  all  portions  of  my  inspection  district. 

Buildings. — There  are  1,379  buildings  of  all  kinds ;  and,  deducting 
the  churches  and  factories,  nearly  every  house  is  a  dwelling.  607  are 
tenant-houses ;  445  are  stores ;  19  markets ;  261  liquor  shops ;  101 
brothels  ;  27  factories  ;  3  churches  ;  and  4  school-houses. 

Only  242  are  strictly  private  dwellings,  and  these  are  mostly  old 
buildings — built  generally  of  brick,  or  frame  houses  with  brick  fronts. 
They  are  generally  small  in  size,  being  from  two  to  four  stories.  They 
are  connected  with  sewers,  except  in  those  streets  that  have  no  sewers. 
Some  have  water  in  the  house,  but  the  greater  proportion  have  a  hydrant 
in  the  yard  or  under  the  front  doorway.  In  those  houses  not  connected 
with  the  sewer,  the  waste  is  either  carried  in  pails  and  thrown  into  the 
street  or  allowed  to  flow  through  a  small  trough — in  some  cases  flowing 
freely  over  the  walk,  a  source  of  great  inconvenience  to  passers-by,  be- 
sides increasing  the  insalubrity  of  the  district.  The  apartments  are  small 
in  size,  especially  the  dormitories,  allowing  only  room  for  bedstead,  wash- 
stand,  &c,  while  the  ventilation  is  entirely  insufficient.  There  are  no 
flues,  air  usually  being  admitted  only  by  door  and  windows  ;  consequently, 
in  cold  weather,  the  air  is  breathed  over  and  over  again,  as  in  the  crowded 
tenements,  depriving  the  body  of  its  necessary  amount  of  oxygen,  and 
leading  to  decay  and  death.  The  kerosene  is  used  to  some  extent,  but  gas 
and  stoves  form  the  principal  method  of  lighting  and  heating.  The 
water-closets  are  in  the  yards,  with  but  few  exceptions,  and  many  arc  not 
connected  with  the  sewers. 

Tenant-Houses. — The  tenant-houses,  which  form  nearly  one-half  of 
(he  whole  number  of  buildings  arc  scattered  throughout  the  district,  and 
with  the  exception  of  Clinton  Market  and  three  squares  on  Broadway  arc  to 
be  found  in  every  square.  The  tenements  arc  more  numerous  between 
Spring  and  Broome,  from  Clark  to  Mercer,  and  in  the  eight  squares 
from  Sullivan  to  Greene,  from  Broome  to  Canal  Streets.  In  the  squaro 
between  Sullivan  and  Thompson,  Spring  and  Broome,  there  aro  79 
houses,  57  of  them  aro  tenements.  A  greater  part  of  these  houses 
arc  old  buildings,  formerly  occupied  as  private  dwellings,  but  now 
used  without  alteration  as  tenant-houses.  The  buildings  arc  mostly  brick, 
varying  from  two  to  four  stories,  except  the  new  buildings  which  arc  all 


TENANT-HOUSES. — PACKING. 


39 


from  four  to  six  stories  high.  There  are,  however,  many  dilapidated 
frame  houses  in  the  section,  several  of  them  with  stairs  on  the  outside  of 
the  huilding  leading  to  each  floor.  They  vary  in  size  from  a  small  shanty 
with  two  families  to  three  story  houses  with  six  to  eight  families.  The 
brick  vary  more  in  size  than  the  frame  houses  ;  some  accommodating  but 
three  families  while  other  double-tenements  contain  as  many  as  forty-five 
families.  There  are  many  tenements  without  either  water  supply  or 
waste  privileges,  the  occupants  being  compelled  to  patronize  their 
neighbors ;  such  is  the  case  at  No.  —  Thompson  and  No.  —  "Wooster 
Streets  (rear),  two  notoriously  filthy  places,  where  fever  and  other  dis- 
eases are  always  to  be  found.  There  is  but  a  small  proportion  of  the 
houses  that  have  water-pipes  leading  into  them,  and  those  are  recently- 
constructed  tenements.  Some  have  water  in  the  rooms,  others  in  the 
halls,  while  a  larger  proportion  have  water  on  the  first  and  second  floors 
only.  The  drainage  of  a  few  of  the  tenements  is  good,  while  that  of  the 
majority  is  decidedly  insufficient.  In  many  houses  that  are  connected 
with  the  sewers,  where  the  drainage  would  be  perfect  if  kept  free  and 
clean,  the  occupants  persist  in  throwing  garbage  and  rubbish  into  the 
water-closets,  and  so  blocking  them  up  as  to  lead  to  offensive  emanations, 
disease,  and  death,  as  special  report  of  two  cases  of  cholera  infantum  oc- 
curring at  No.  —  Varick  Street  during  the  stoppage  and  accumulation  of 
faeces  in  water-closet,  will  testify.  Man}'  houses  have  a  trough  that  leads 
to  the  gutter,  through  which  the  slops  and  garbage  are  conveyed  to  the 
street ;  while  others  have  no  waste  privileges,  the  occupants  throwing 
their  slops  out  of  a  door  or  window,  allowing  it  to  stand  in  stagnant  pools, 
or  find  its  way  to  the  street  through  the  alleys  connected  therewith  ;  the 
"  Thompson  Street  Arch"  is  a  striking  instance  of  the  latter  class.  Very 
few  tenements  have  water-closets  in  the  house  ;  they  have  privies  in  the 
yards,  which,  as  a  rule,  are  insufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  numbers 
who  are  crowded  into  the  houses ;  many  are  not  connected  with  the 
sewers ;  are  seldom  cleaned,  being  allowed  to  overflow  in  some  cases, 
rendering  the  neighborhood  offensive  with  the  insalubrious  emanations. 
The  re  are  but  few  houses  whose  occupants  have  four  rooms  j  there 
are  more  who  have  three  rooms  ;  the  greater  proportion  have  only  two, 
while  there  are  hundreds  of  families  who  have  but  one,  livin^ 
and  sleeping  in  the  same  room.  In  the  buildings  in  which  I  have 
calculated  the  size  of  the  apartments,  I  find  the  area  varies  from 
25  to  75  square  feet  and  from  150  to  COO  cubic  feet  to  each  pcr« 
son.  These  calculations  were  made  in  the  apartments  in  which  disease 
were  found,  and  perhaps  are  not  fair  estimates  of  healthy  quarters. 
Stoves  and  kerosene  are  the  means  of  heating  and  lighting  in  tenant- 


±0 


REPORT  OF  TIIE  THIRD  SAXITArT  DISTRICT. 


liouses,  gas  rarely  being  used.  I  have  found  many  of  the  cellars  occu- 
pied by  from  one  to  three  families.  In  the  basements  and  cellars  there 
has  been  a  greater  proportionate  amount  of  sickness,  resulting  from  the 
dampness.  Rheumatism,  pulmonary  diseases,  and  cholera  infantum  have  . 
most  often  claimed  my  attention.  The  cellars  are  without  ventilation  ex- 
cept by  doors.  The  negroes  who  inhabit  some  of  the  cellars  arc  fond  of 
excluding  the  light  by  placing  dark  curtains  at  the  windows,  thereby  add- 
ing another  cause  to  their  already  insalubrious  quarters.  I  have  often 
seen  people  living  in  basements  where  the  floor  was  perfectly  saturated 
with  water.  Another  cause  of  insalubrity  is  found  in  the  method  of  clean- 
ing many  of  the  tenements.  Instead  of  scrubbing  and  thoroughly  wiping, 
the  occupants  dash  pails  of  water  upon  the  floors,  then  sweeping  them 
with  a  broom  ;  there  remains  a  greater  amount  of  moisture  than  is  condu- 
cive to  health. 

DRAM-Snors,  &c. — There  are  261  dram-shops  ;  101  brothels, 
and  a  large  number  of  small  "  policy-shops."  The  latter  are  a 
great  curse  to  the  people,  especially  the  negro  population,  who  are 
so  infatuated  with  policy-playing  as  to  sacrifice  all  other  comforts 
and  even  spend  their  last  cent  in  taking  a  chance.  They  are  so  absorbed 
in  this  small  way  of  gambling,  that  if  they  dream  of  a  number,  or  even  of 
a  person,  they  will  try  and  ascertain  his  age,  and  taking  his  number  of 
years  or  the  number  dreamed  of,  will  risk  large  amounts,  hoping  to  make 
a  "  hit."  They  seldom  win,  and  the  despondency  that  follows  is  drowned 
in  the  "  flowing  bowl."  The  majority  of  the  drinking  shops  arc  low, 
filthy  places,  some  having  disreputable  women  in  attendance.  The 
brothels,  with  few  exceptions,  abound  with  venereal  poison  and  vermin. 

Stores. — There  are  four  hundred  and  forty-five  stores,  and  nineteen 
markets.  A  few  are  wholesale  stores,  the  larger  part  of  them  are  along 
Canal  and  Spring.  Many  are  groceries  which  have  bars  for  the  sale  of 
liquor,  and  some  have  meat  and  fish-stands  attached.  They  affect  the 
public  health  by  promoting  drunkenness,  and  in  summer  time  by  selling 
both  meat  and  vegetables  which  have  been  kept  on  hand  too  long  for 
healthy  nutrition.  Judging  from  the  frequency  with  which  I  have  found 
disease  (shown  by  special  reports)  associated  with  the  grocery  and  meat 
business  as  it  is  carried  on  in  this  section,  I  infer  that  the  vegetable  and 
animal  decomposition  constantly  going  on  produces  a  great  deal  of  the 
sickness  and  mortality. 

Factories. — Arc  all  small,  mostly  pianoforte  and  cabinet  manufac- 
tories, employing  but  few  hands ;  having  no  particular  effect  upon  the- 
public  health. 

Staiilks. — There  arc  eighty  stables  in  the  district  of  my  inspection ; 


CHOLEKA  INFANTUM.  ITS  CAUSES. 


41 


thirteen  of  them  public  or  livery,  and  sixty-eight  of  them  private.  That 
they  produce  a  deleterious  effect  upon  the  health  of  their  immediate  local- 
ities I  infer  from  the  marked  and  fatal  prevalence  of  certain  peculiar  dis- 
eases in  their  immediate  and  most  exposed  vicinity.  Cholera  infantum 
is  one  of  the  maladies  here  referred  to. 

Churches  and  School-Buildings. — There  are  hut  three  churches 
and  four  school-houses.  The  confining  of  young  children  for  several 
hours  a  day  in  these  houses  is  no  doubt  very  injurious  to  their  constitu- 
tions, inducing,  as  it  may,  pulmonary  tuberculosis.  Three  of  these 
school-houses  are  located  in  the  most  insalubrious  part  of  this  district. 
Two  of  them,  No.  64  Grand  and  No.  61  Thompson,  are  next  to  typhus 
fever-nests.  These  are  peculiarly  liable  to  become  agencies  for  spreading 
widely  any  infectious  disease. 

Prevailing  Diseases. — The  prevailing  diseases  of  the  past  season 
have  been  fevers  of  the  typhus,  typhoid,  remittent  and  intermittent  types, 
cholera  morbus,  cholera  infantum,  scarlatina,  dysentery,  and  diarrhoea. 
With  few  exceptions  I  find  them  all  confined  to  the  locality  between 
Varick  and  "Wooster  Streets  from  Canal  to  Spring  Streets.  By  referring 
to  the  map  of  original  ground  it  is  seen  that  this  part  of  the  section  is 
nearly  all  made  land  filled  in  on  the  meadow.  It  is  the  lowest  of  the  dis- 
trict, poorly  drained,  and  deficient  in  sewers.  It  is  densely  populated, 
nearly  all  the  houses  being  tenements.  The  typhus  and  typhoid  fevers 
have  been  of  a  malignant  type  in  two  houses,  twelve  out  of  eighteen  cases 
proving  fatal.  Cholera  infantum  has  probably  consigned  many  more  to 
the  grave  during  the  past  summer  than  all  other  diseases  in  my  inspection 
district.  In  every  case  examined  I  have  found  it  associated  with  some 
well-marked  source  of  insalubrity ;  vegetable  and  animal  decomposition 
have  been  the  most  prominent  causes.  The  proximity  of  stables  and 
offensive  water-closets  have  often  claimed  my  attention.  In  three  cases, 
in  private  practice,  occurring  in  Tenth  and  Twelfth  Streets,  where  the 
children  of  the  neighborhood  were  all  well,  the  mothers  of  the  three 
children  healthy,  having  a  plentiful  supply  of  good  milk,  none  other  than 
the  above-named  causes  were  apparent.  During  the  month  of  August 
there  were  576  deaths  in  the  city  from  cholera  infantum.  1,776  children 
died  from  various  causes  during  the  four  weeks  ending  with  August  28, 
1864.  How  many  of  those  lives  may  have  been  saved  under  proper 
sanitary  rules  and  regulations  I  am  unable  to  say.  That  50  per  cent, 
die  from  prevcntible  causes  in  my  inspection  district  I  do  not  doubt.  I 
have  found  very  filthy  and  insalubrious  quarters  where  sickness  was  sel- 
dom known.  These  quarters  were  near  the  river.  The  increased  ven- 
tilation caused  by  the  high  winds  sweeping  from  the  river,  with  better 
drainage  than  in  many  parts  of  the  district,  will  probably  explain  the  fact. 


42 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Occasionally  I  have  found  typhus  fever  among  immigrants ;  it  has 
usually  been  of  a  mild  type,  resulting  favorably,  and  has  been  but  slightly 
contagious  during  the  past  summer  months.  The  same  cases  would  no 
doubt  have  infected  whole  neighborhoods  during  the  cold  season,  when 
all  the  doors  and  windows  are  closed,  when  the  poison  would  be  nur- 
tured, and  the  inmates  enfeebled  by  an  insufficient  supply  of  fresh  air. 
The  mortality  in  the  latter  case  would  also  be  relatively  greater. 

The  sanitary  improvement  in  my  district  during  the  progress  of  my 
inspection  was  plainly  visible.  Exceedingly  filthy  places,  overflowing 
cesspools  and  privies,  which  were  numerous  in  my  first  visits,  were  sud- 
denly cleaned.  Often  upon  my  second  visit,  with  paper  and  pencil  in  my 
hand  to  sketch  the  filthy  scene,  I  would  find  the  quarters  cleaned  and 
whitewashed,  and  the  air,  instead  of  being  laden  with  disagreeable  odors, 
would  be  comparatively  pure  and  wholesome.  Many  of  these  sudden 
transitions  were  from  fear  or  a  presumption  that  my  inspection  had  some 
official  authority  ;  but  the  greater  part  were  brought  about  by  explaining 
to  the  people  the  necessity  of  cleanliness.  Pools  of  filthy  water  from 
obstructions  at  the  street  corners,  and  accumulations  along  the  gutters, 
would  quickly  disappear,  when  the  people  would  be  convinced  of  the 
deleterious  effect  upon  the  public  health. 

It  will  be  well  for  the  inhabitants  of  New  York  City,  and  especially  for 
those  of  this  section,  when  there  shall  be  laws  not  only  to  compel  them 
to  keep  their  houses  and  surroundings  clean  and  free  from  the  effluvia  re- 
sulting from  vegetable  and  animal  decomposition,  but  to  prevent  the  over- 
crowding of  tenant-houses,  where  fatal  diseases  arc  generated,  and  where 
death  walks  stealthily  around.  In  concluding  this  report  I  feel  warranted 
in  stating  that  if  my  labors  have  not  been  attended  with  results  which 
have  advanced  the  cause  of  science,  they  have,  as  I  believe,  been  instru- 
mental in  a  marked  improvement  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  Section  B 
of  the  Third  Inspection  District. 

Statistical  Recapitulation. 

Squares,   33  Stores,   445 

"     in  good  sanitary  condition,  7  Liquor  shops,  ....  2C1 

"     in  mixed   "         "  7  Moat  and  vegetablo  markets,     .  19 

"     in  very  lad,         "  19  Brothels,       ....  101 

Houses,   1,379  Factories,  ...  .27 

"     private,     .       .       .  242  Churches,      ....  8 

"     tcnan  t,  .      .      .      .  C07  School  houses,   ....  4 

"     roar   ....  207  Stables   80 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

FOURTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


EZRA  R.  PULLING,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — The  Fourth  District,  comprising  the  Fourth  Ward,  ii 
bounded  by  Chatham,  Catharine,  and  South  Street,  Peck  Slip,  Ferry,  and 
Spruce  Streets.  Its  average  length  and  breadth  are  respectively  about  1,900 
and  1,600  feet. 

ToroGiiAPHY. — Deducting  the  surface  occupied  by  streets,  &c,  a 
superficies  remains  of  about  2,240,000  square  feet,  or  about  8,227  square 
rods,  equal  to  896  building  lots  25x100  feet.  The  soil  is  sandy  and 
porous.  About  one-fifth  of  the  entire  area  is  artificial,  having  been 
filled  in  at  a  remote  period.  It  includes  a  depressed  space  near  its  west- 
ern border,  formerly  known  as  Beehnan's  Swamp,  which  contains  about 
100,000  square  feet,  and  still  retains  its  paludal  designation  among  the 
leather  dealers  by  whose  places  of  business  it  is  now  chiefly  occupied. 

The  northeast  and  the  northwest  corners  are  the  most  elevated  points, 
each  being  about  thirty-six  feet  above  high-water  mark.  From  the  former, 
the  ground  slopes  rapidly  south  and  west.  From  the  latter,  the  slope  is  by 
a  somewhat  abrupt  declivity,  south  and  cast.  The  average  elevation  of  the 
district  above  high-water  mark  is  about  sixteen  feet.  Its  natural  drain- 
age is  good,  as  the  ground,  except  in  the  vicinity  of  the  river,  is  generally 
sloping,  the  declivity  being  steepest  in  those  streets  which  run  from 
Chatham  to  South. 

The  following  named  streets  and  parts  of  streets  have  no  sewers  with- 
in the  boundaries  of  this  ward :  East  Broadway,  Henry,  Hague,  Chest- 
nut, New  Chambers,  South,  Front,  Water,  Cherry  from  Catharine  to 
Roosevelt,  Pearl  from  William  to  Bowery,  Madison  from  Pearl  to  Roose- 
velt, Oliver  from  Chatham  to  Madison,  Frankfort  from  Cliff  to  Bowery. 


44 


EEPOET  OF  THE  FOURTH  SANITAKY  DISTEICT. 


All  the  sewers  empty  into  the  East  River  below  high-water  mark  ;  for 
ahout  one-half  their  entire  length  they  are  swept  out  by  the  refluent 
tide.* 

Of  the  714  buildings  classed  as  tenant-houses,  less  than  one-half- Avere 
found  to  have  a  waste-pipe  or  drain  connected  directly  with  the  sewer. 
Where  this  is  wanting,  liquid  refuse  is  emptied  on  the  sidewalk  or  into 
the  street,  or  in  some  instances  into  sinks  in  the  domiciles  communicating 
with  a  common  pipe  which  discharges  its  contents  into  the  open  gutter  to 
run  perhaps  hundreds  of  feet,  giving  forth  the  most  noisome  exhalations, 
and  uniting  its  fetid  streams  with  numerous  others  from  similar  sources, 
before  reaching  its  subterranean  destination. 

Slops  from  rear  buildings  of  such  premises  arc  usually  emptied  into 
a  shallow  gutter  cut  in  the  flagging  and  extending  from  the  yard,  or 
space  between  front  and  rear  buildings,  to  the  street.  This  is  often 
clogged  up  by  semi-fluid  filth,  so  that  the  alley  and  those  parts  of  the 
yard  through  which  it  runs  are  not  unfrequcntly  overflown  and  sub- 
merged to  the  depth  of  several  inches. 

There  are  more  than  four  hundred  families  in  this  district  whose  homes 
can  only  be  reached  by  wading  through  a  disgusting  deposit  of  filthy  refuse. 
In  some  instances,  a  staging  of  plank,  elevated  a  few  inches  above  the 
surface,  is  constructed  through  the  alleys.  This  affords  to  the  residents 
the  advantage  of  a  dry  walk,  but  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view  its  influence 
is  scarcely  favorable,  since  it  prevents  the  removal  of  the  offensive  mat- 
ters beneath. 

I  cannot  report  favorably  on  the  condition  of  the  thoroughfares  in  my 
district.  Belgian  pavement  has  been  laid  in  Chatham,  New  Bowery, 
New  Chambers,  and  South  Streets,  and  in  part  of  Pearl  Street.  All  the 
other  streets  have  the  cobble-stone  pavement,  which  in  most  instances  is 
in  bad  condition,  and  in  all  is  very  difficult  to  keep  clean.  As  a  sanitary 
measure  alone,  an  improved  pavement  is  greatly  needed  in  all  these 
densely-populated  streets.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  a  thorough 
cleansing  is  equally  required. 

I  have  indicated  on  the  large  map  which  accompanies  this  report,  the 
localities  in  which  accumulations  of  street-filth  were  observed  at  the  time 
of  inspection.  From  this  it  appears  that  less  than  one-third  of  the 
entire  street  surface  was  in  a  tolerably  cleanly  condition,  while  of  the 
cobble-stone  pavement  less  than  one-sixth  part  was  clean.  Much  of  tlio 
latter,  in  fact,  never  is  clean,  for  the  filth  lodging  in  the  interstices  of  its 

•  Tho  original  water-line  in  copied  by  permission  from  a  new  topographical  mnp  by 
Gen.  E.  L.  VielA,  whose  courtesy  I  Ukc  this  opportunity  to  acknowledge. 


TENANT  AND  CKOWDED  TIOESES. 


4j 


surface  is  never  wholly  removed.  Besides,  it  is  often  depressed  or  worn 
into  deep  ruts,  which  furnish  receptacles  for  both  solid  and  fluid  matters 
of  the  most  offensive  character. 

I  think  there  is  no  more  efficient  means  of  cleansing  such  streets 
than  by  directing  a  stream  of  water  over  successive  portions  of  their  sur- 
face, thus  washing  the  filthy  deposit  into  the  gutters  and  thence  into  the 
sewers. 

Courts  and  alleys  are  numerous,  the  latter  generally  narrow,  averag- 
ing less  than  three  feet  in  width,  where  they  form  conduits  for  the  drain- 
age from  rear  houses  ;  they  are  uniformly  in  bad  condition. 

The  entire  number  of  buildings  in  this  district  is  1,507. 

Classified  according  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  used  : 

770  are  occupied  chiefly  or  wholly  as  residences. 
*  682  "  "  "         for  business  purposes. 

8  are  Churches  and  Schools. 
47  are  Stables. 

Classified  according  to  the  material  of  which  they  are  constructed : 
1,394  are  built  of  brick,  stone,  or  iron. 
113        "  wood. 

Classified  according  to  position : 
1,342  front  on  the  street. 
165  are  rear  houses. 

Of  the  165  rear  buildings, 
108  are  Tenant-houses. 
20  are  occupied  for  business  purposes. 
37  arc  Stables. 

Tenant  and  Crowded  Houses.— Under  this  head  I  have  included : 
1st.  All  tenant-houses  built  as  such ;  and,  2d.  All  those  used  chiefly  or 
wholly  as  residences  in  which  the  occupied  space  gives  a  pro  rata  of  less 
than  800  cubic  feet  to  each  inhabitant,  without  reference  to  the  number 
of  families  or  the  population,  or  to  the  original  design  or  construction  of 
the  buildings.  The  total  of  these  is  714,  of  which  656  are  brick  and 
58  arc  wood. 

Of  these  242  were  built  as  tenant-houses  and  divided  into  domiciles. 
Of  these  472  were  originally  designed  for  occupancy  by  a  single  fam- 
ily or  for  business  purposes. 

*  Many  of  these  have  one  or  more  families  residing  in  them. 


46 


REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


The  first  class  is  sub-divided  as  follows  in  accordance  with  the  num- 
ber of  domiciles : 

Of  those  having  2  domiciles  there  are  8 


(t 

a 

3  " 

tt 

16 

If 

a 

4  " 

tt 

33 

a 

a 

5  " 

tt 

14 

(( 

tt 

6  " 

a 

44 

(( 

a 

7  " 

a 

15 

a 

a 

8  " 

a 

28 

tt 

a 

9  M 

a 

11 

tt 

it 

10  " 

tt 

25 

a 

a 

11  " 

tt 

3 

(i 

tt 

12  " 

tt 

10 

tt 

tt 

13  " 

a 

2 

a 

tt 

14  « 

it 

4 

tt 

u 

15  » 

tt 

1 

tt 

tt 

16  » 

tt 

12 

tt 

it 

17  « 

tt 

1 

li 

tt 

18  " 

ct 

2 

il 

tt 

20  " 

(( 

5 

tt 

20  to  50  " 

a 

6 

tt 

50  to  100  " 

it 

1 

a 

over  100  " 

tt 

1 

The  whole  number  of  domiciles  in  houses  of  this  class  is  2,119. 
The  average  number  of  domiciles  in  each  house  of  this  claos  is 
about  8f. 

Both  classes  together  are  subdivided  in  accordance  with  the  number 
of  families  occupying  each  house  at  the  time  of  inspection  : 

Of  those  occupied  by  1  family  there  were  24 


(I 

|l 

2  " 

"  66 

(( 

(( 

3  » 

«  75 

(( 

|| 

4  « 

"  69 

(( 

(( 

5  » 

"  49 

M 

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6  " 

«  80 

(( 

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7  " 

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8  « 

"  40 

II 

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9  " 

it  17 

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10  « 

»  29 

II 

«( 

11  « 

it  4 

DESCRIPTION'  OF  A  TENANT-HOUSE. 


47 


Of  those  occupied  by  12  families  there  were  12 


(« 

"       13  " 

2 

it 

u      14  » 

t( 

4 

U 

u      15  « 

tc 

1 

«(  • 

«      16  " 

it 

12 

u 

"      17  " 

tt 

1 

(( 

u      ig  « 

it 

1 

K 

«      19  " 

u 

1 

20  and  less  than   50  •' 

(C 

6 

50  and  less  than  100  " 

(( 

1 

over  100  " 

a 

1 

not  ascertained  " 

tt 

177 

average  population 

of  this  class  of  houses 

is 

about  28. 

Description  op  an  ordinary  Tenant-House. — As  an  example  of  an 
ordinary  tenant-house,  I  select  one  from  James  Street  for  description.  It 
is  a  brick  building  five  stories  high.  A  door  of  entrance  and  a  liquor 
store  occupy  the  front  of  the  first  story.  Entering  a  hall  4^  feet  wide,  we 
grope  our  way  up  a  steep  stair-case  2^  feet  wide,  which  is  perfectly  dark, 
and  reach  the  second-story  landing,  from  which  open  four  doors  communi- 
cating with  the  same  number  of  domiciles. 

Calling  at  the  first  of  these  we  enter  a  room  14  X 12  feet  with  ceiling 
8  feet  high,  having  on  one  side  two  moderate-sized  windows.  The  small 
fire-place  is  closet),  and  a  stove  exhausts  rapidly  the  scanty  atmospheric 
supply  which  finds  its  way  into  the  apartment  through  crevices  of  the 
door  and  windows.  We  observe  that  a  pungent  odor  of  coal-gas  pervades 
the  apartment. 

Opening  into  this  room  is  another,  having  an  area  of  9x12  feet,  with 
the  same  height  of  ceiHng  as  the  former.  It  has  no  other  opening  than 
the  door  of  communication,  and  of  course  possesses  no  means  whatever 
of  efficient  ventilation.  Looking  into  this  Ave  sec  two  beds  beside  a  quan- 
tity of  bedding  on  the  floor  between  them,  indicating  that  this  is  the  dor- 
mitory of  half  a  dozen  persons.  A  sickening  and  stifling  odor,  most 
offensive  to  the  unaccustomed  senses,  pervades  this  apartment  and  poisons 
the  atmosphere  inhaled  by  the  residents. 

The  simple  fact  that  this  is  the  abode  of  six  persons  might  be  a  suffi- 
cient explanation  of  the  latter  phenomenon  ;  but  when  Ave  recollect  that  they 
belong  to  a  class  Avho  attribute  most  of  their  physical  ills  to  a  cause,  tho 
exact  reverse  of  that  to  which  they  arc  generally  due,  viz.,  to  exposure 
to  the  external  atmosphere,  and  Avhose  sanitary  creed  teaches  them 
to  exclude  it  from  their  apartments  as  far  as  possible,  avc  can  only 


48 


EEPOET  OF  THE  FOUETH  SANITAEY  DISTEICT. 


wonder  that  the  mcphitic  gases  generated  and  concentrated  in  these 
abodes  do  not  destroy  health  and  life  even  more  speedily  than  they  ap- 
pear to  do. 

We  find  in  this  domicile  a  pro  rata  of  about  370  cubic  feet  to  each 
occupant.  At  the  time  of  visit,  the  mother  and  two  small  children  are 
the  only  members  of  the  family  present.  The  latter  we  find  to  be  types 
of  a  class.  Although  they  have  no  form  of  active  disease  pres- 
ent, they  are  strumous,  debilitated,  and  lacking  in  muscular  develop- 
ment. We  notice  that  the  conjunctiva  is  inflamed,  and  learn  without 
surprise  that  every  member  of  the  family  has  been  affected  with  ophthal- 
mia. The  mucous  membrane  of  the  eyes  as  well  as  of  the  air-passages 
resents  the  constant  irritation  of  smoke  and  dust. 

The  remaining  domiciles  are  counterparts  of  the  first  as  to  arrange- 
ment and  condition,  and  almost  so  as  regards  their  occupants.  The  halls 
are  practically  destitute  of  ventilation.  The  occasional  opening  of  the 
door  of  entrance  below,  or  of  those  of  the  domiciles  above,  scarcely  has 
any  favorable  influence  on  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere.  From  the 
latter  sources,  indeed,  the  halls  are  constantly  filled  with  noisome  and 
fetid  exhalations.  Their  floors  are  washed  occasionally  though  rarely, 
but  the  walls  frequently  remain  for  years  without  white-washing  or 
cleansing.  Wherever  the  hand  comes  in  contact  with  them  they  impart 
a  sticky  or  pasty  sensation ;  and  when  scraped,  an  actual  deposit  of  filth  is 
brought  away. 

Pursuing  our  investigations,  we  next  examine  the  rear  of  the 
premises : 

Through  a  narrow  alley,  we  enter  a  small  court-yard  which  the  lofty 
buildings  in  front  and  rear  keep  in  almost  perpetual  shade.  Entering  it 
from  the  street  on  a  sunny  day  the  atmosphere  seems  like  that  of  a  well. 
The  yard,  which  is  about  25  feet  square,  is  filled  with  recently-washed 
clothiug  suspended  to  dry.  In  the  centre  of  this  space  arc  the  privies 
used  by  the  population  of  both  front  and  rear-houses.  Their  presence  is 
quite  as  perceptible  to  the  smell  as  to  the  sight. 

Making  our  way  through  this  enclosure,  and  descending  four  or  five 
steps,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  basement  of  the  rear-building.  We  enter 
a  room  whose  low  ceiling  is  blackened  with  smoke,  and  its  Avails  dis- 
colored witli  damp.  In  front,  opening  on  a  narrow  area  covered  with 
green  mould,  two  small  windows,  their  tops  scarcely  level  with  the  court- 
yard, affoid  at  noonday  a  twilight-illumination  to  the  apartment. 
Through  their  broken  panes  they  admit  the  damp  air  laden  with  effluvia 
which  constitutes  the  vital  atmosphere  inhaled  by  all  who  are  immured 
in  tlii.s  dismal  abode. 


TENANT-HOUSE  IN  GOTHAM  COTJET. 


49 


A  door  at  the  back  of  this  room  communicates  with  another  which  is 
entirely  dark,  and  has  but  this  one  opening.  Both  rooms  together  have 
an  area  about  eighteen  feet  square,  and  these  apartments  are  the  home 
of  six  persons.  The  father  of  the  family,  a  day  laborer,  is  absent.  The 
mother,  a  wrinkled  crone  at  thirty,  sits  rocking  in  her  arms  an  infant 
whose  pasty  and  pallid  features  tell  that  decay  and  death  are  usurping 
the  place  of  health  and  life.  Two  older  children  are  in  the  street,  which 
is  their  only  playground,  and  the  only  place  where  they  can  go  to  breathe 
an  atmosphere  that  is  even  comparatively  pure.  A  fourth  child,  emaciated 
to  a  skeleton,  and  with  that  ghastly  and  unearthly  look  which  marasmus 
impresses  on  its  victims,  has  reared  its  feeble  frame  on  a  rickety  chair 
against  the  window  sill,  and  is  striving  to  get  a  glimpse  at  the  smiling 
heavens  whose  light  is  so  seldom  permitted  to  gladden  its  longing  eyes. 
Its  youth  has  battled  nobly  against  the  terribly  morbid  and  devitalizing 
agents  which  have  oppressed  its  childish  life — the  poisonous  air,  the 
darkness,  and  the  damp  ;  but  the  battle  is  nearly  over,  it  is  easy  to  decide 
where  the  victory  will  be. 
.  My  district  contains  one  tenant-house  which  has  become  rather  noto- 
rious in  consequence  of  having  been  the  subject  of  several  special  reports, 
one  of  which  I  made  about  three  years  since.  As  this  establishment  is 
very  extensive,  and  possesses  some  peculiar  characteristics,  and  as  the 
description  of  these  premises  and  their  population  which  I  gave  in  that 
report  is  equally  applicable  now,  I  quote  from  it  here  :  * 

"  The  building  known  as  No.  —  and  No.  —  Cherry  Street  forms  a  part 
of  what  has  heretofore  been  known  as  '  Gotham  Court.'  As  measured,  it 
is  34  feet  4  inches  wide  in  front  and  rear,  is  234  feet  long  and  5  stories  high. 
On  the  north  it  is  contiguous  to  a  large  tenant-house  fronting  on  Roose- 
velt Street.  On  the  west  an  alley  9  feet  wide  separates  it  from  a  similar 
structure  forming  a  part  of  the  '  Court.'  On  the  east  another  alley,  7 
feet  wide,  divides  it  from  the  rear  of  a  number  of  houses  on  Roosevelt 
Street. 

"  In  the  basement  of  this  building  are  the  privies,  through  which  the 
Croton-water  is  permitted  to  run  for  a  short  time  occasionally  ;  but  this  is 
evidently  insufficient  to  cleanse  them,  for  their  emanations  render  the  first 
story  exceedingly  offensive,  and  may  be  perceived  as  a  distinct  odor  as 
high  as  the  third  floor. 

"  The  contents  of  the  privies  are  discharged  into  subterranean  drains 
or  sewers,  which  run  through  each  alley  and  communicate  with  the  exter- 

*  The  Inspector  of  the  Fourtli  District  prepared  the  special  report  here  referred  to  wben 
he  was  Visiting  Physician  to  the  New  York  City  Dispensary  in  the  same  district  in  the 
year  1859-60—  Editor. 

4 


50    »  REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


A  HUMAN  PACKING-HOUSE. 


51 


ill 

"  GOTO  AM  COUKT."-GEOUND  FLAN  AND  SURROUNDINGS. 


52 


REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTH  SAKTTARY  DISTRICT. 


nal  atmosphere  by  a  series  of  grated  openings,  through  which  feted  exha- 
lations are  continually  arising.  These  openings  receive  the  drainage  of 
the  buildings,  besides  the  refuse  matter  which  is  not  too  bulky  to  pass 
through  the  gratings,  a  bordering  of  disgusting  filth  frequently  surround- 
ing them. 

"  This  structure  contains  twelve  principal  divisions,  each  having  a 
common  staircase  communicating  with  10  domiciles,  making  120  tene- 
ments in  all.  Each  tenement  consists  of  two  rooms,  the  largest  of  which 
is  14  feet  8  inches  long,  9  feet  6  inches  wide,  and  8  feet  4  inches  high. 
The  smaller,  having  the  same  length  and  height,  is  8  feet  6  inches  wide. 
The  two  apartments  together  contain  1,955^  cubic  feet.  Each  room  has 
one  small  Avindow.  The  doors  leading  from  the  landings  are  contiguous 
to  the  wall  in  which  these  windows  are  situated,  so  that  it  is  impossible 
for  a  current  of  air  to  pass  through  the  rooms  under  any  circumstances. 

"  At  the  time  of  visit  49  of  the  tenements  were  either  vacant  or  the 
occupants  absent.  In  the  remaining  71  there  were  reported  as  residing 
504  persons,  averaging  a  little  more  than  7  persons  to  each  occupied 
domicile.  The  entire  amount  of  space  in  the  rooms  occupied  is  138,840 
cubic  feet,  which  would  be  equal  to  a  single  room  118  feet  square,  and 
about  10  feet  high,  giving  each  individual  an  average  of  about  275  cubic 
feet,  equal  to  a  closet  5  feet  square  and  11  feet  high.  It  must  be  recol- 
lected that  the  above  total  space  contains  not  only  its  504  inhabitants, 
but  their  furniture,  bedding,  and  household  utensils,  besides  no  small  por- 
tion of  their  excretions,  as  is  painfully  evident  to  every  one  who,  in  these 
regions,  has  the  misfortune  to  possess  an  acute  sense  of  smell.  Of  the 
entire  number  of  tenements,  four  only  were  found  in  a  condition  ap- 
proaching cleanliness.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  entire  establish- 
ment swarms  with  vermin. 

"  In  seven  of  the  tenements  tailoring  was  carried  on.  In  five  out  of 
seven  the  articles  manufactured  were  for  the  use  of  the  army.  In  two 
of  these  rooms  patients  were  found  sick  of  contagious  diseases.  One  was 
a  case  of  typhus  fever,  the  other  of  measles. 

"It  was  admitted  that  19  persons  were  unvaccinatcd.  These  were 
chiefly  children,  but  it  is  probable  that  a  much  larger  number  arc  unpro- 
tected from  variola,  for  in  several  instances  those  who  asserted  that  the 
operation  had  been  successfully  performed,  failed,  on  examination,  to  ex- 
hibit a  vaccine  scar. 

"  The  average  length  of  time  that  the  residents  have  occupied  tho 
premises  is  reported  to  be  about  two  years  and  eight  months.  There  havo 
been  138  births,  including  12  still-born,  in  these  families  during  their  term 
of  residence  in  the  building.    Of  these  only  77  arc  now  living,  showing  an 


54 


EEPORT  OF  THE  FOUKTH  SAHTTAET  DISTRICT. 


infant  mortality  of  over  44  per  cent,  in  two  years  and  eight  months  ;  but 
as  by  far  the  greater  number  of  these  deaths  occur  during  the  first  year,  it 
may  be  safely  assumed  that  30  per  cent,  of  those  born  here  do  not  survive 
a  twelvemonth.  The  total  number  of  deaths  reported  as  occurring  in  the 
families  now  occupying  the  premises  during  their  term  of  residence  there, 
is  98,  or  about  19£  per  cent,  of  the  population  for  that  period. 

"  Of  the  504  inmates,  146,  or  about  29  per  cent.,  were  found  to  be  suf- 
fering from  diseases  of  a  more  or  less  serious  character,  among  which 
were  four  cases  of  small-pox  (three  of  them  unvaccinated) ,  eight  cases  of 
typhus  fever,  seven  cases  of  scarlatina,  and  four  of  measles  in  the  eruptive 
stage,  twenty-seven  cases  of  infantile  marasmus,  twelve  cases  of  phthisis 
pulmonalis,  five  cases  of  dysentery,  three  cases  of  chronic  diarrhoea,  and 
a  large  number  of  slight  cases  of  diarrhoea  and  of  cutaneous  eruptions. 

"  It  is  difficult  to  form  a  satisfactory  estimate  of  the  comparative  fre- 
quency of  the  different  diseases  heretofore  prevailing,  the  inmates  being, 
in  a  great  proportion  of  cases,  ignorant  of  their  character.  It  is,  of  course, 
equally  difficult  to  arrive  at  the  causes  of  death,  but  it  is  pretty  well  ascer- 
tained that  at  least  twenty  cases  of  small-pox  occurred  during  the  past 
year,  of  which  six  were  fatal.  Scarlatina  is  assigned  as  the  cause  of  six- 
teen deaths  occurring  during  the  above  period.  Typhus  fever  undoubt- 
edly claimed  numerous  victims,  as  it  has  been  quite  prevalent.  To  the 
unaccustomed  eye  it  is  a  sad  and  striking  spectacle  to  witness  the  atten- 
uated forms,  the  sunken  eyes,  the  pinched  and  withered  faces  of  the  little 
patients,  young  in  years  but  old  in  suffering,  who  are  the  prey  of  infan- 
tile marasmus.  A  glance  is  sufficient  to  designate  this  as  one  of  the 
ghostly  janitors,  ever  ready  to  open  wide  the  gate  which  leads  to  early 
death. 

"A  description  of  these  premises  would  be  incomplete  without,  at 
least,  a  passing  notice  of  two  establishments  occupying  the  front  por- 
tion of  the  first  story.  One  is  termed  a  grocery,  the  other  a  liquor  store. 
Both  arc  apparently  pretty  well  patronized.  At  the  former  are  retailed  a 
variety  of  articles  of  food,  including  partially-decayed  vegetables,  rather 
suspicious  looking  solids,  bearing  respectively  the  names  of  butter  and 
cheese,  and  a  decidedly  suspicious  fluid  bearing  the  name  of  milk.  Beer 
and  alcoholic  compounds  are  also  dispensed.  At  the  adjoining  shop  the 
staple  commodities  are  those  indescribable  compounds  of  sundry  known 
and  unknown  ingredients,  which  arc  sold  as  '  pure  imported  wines  and 
liquors.'  I  believe  from  what  I  could  ascertain  that  these  liquors  arc  used 
to  a  considerable  extent  by  almost  every  family  on  the  premises,  a  fact,  in- 
deed, which  might  bo  expected,  for  in  such  apartments  as  they  occupy  the 
poisonous  air  begets  a  deadly  lassitude,  and  generates  an  inordinate  desiro 


SUBMARINE  DWELLINGS. 


55 


for  stimulants.  To  the  effect  of  these  unwholesome  viands  and  poisonous 
beverages  may  probably  be  traced  much  of  the  diarrhoea  which  prevails 
here  even  at  this  season,  and  which  is  vastly  increased  in  amount  during 
the  summer  months. 

"  On  the  whole,  perhaps,  this  section  of  Gotham  Court  presents  about 
an  average  specimen  of  tenantrhouses  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city  in 
respect  to  salubrity.  There  are  some  which  are  more  roomy,  have  better 
means  of  ventilation,  and  are  kept  cleaner  ;  but  there  are  many  which  are 
in  far  worse  condition,  and  exhibit  a  much  higher  rate  of  mortality  than 
this." 

The  number  of  inhabited  basements  and  cellars  is  224,  occupied  by 
268  families,  or  about  1,400  persons.  Their  depth  below  the  "curb"  or 
street  level  varies  from  2  to  8  feet,  averaging  about  4^  feet. 

are  below  high-water  mark. 
"  less  than  10  feet  above  high-water  mark. 
"  from  10  to  20        «  " 
"     "    20  to  30       "  " 
"  over  30  "  " 

In  the  sub-tidal  basements  19  families,  or  110  persons,  live  heneath  the 
level  of  the  sea. 

This  submarine  region  is  not  only  excessively  damp  but  is  liable  to 
sudden  inroads  from  the  domains  of  Neptune.  At  high  tide  the  water 
often  wells  up  through  the  floors,  submerging  them  to  a  considerable  depth. 
The  constant  repetition  of  this  aquatic  episode  in  domestic  life,  has  led  to 
the  abandonment,  as  residences,  of  several  of  these  basements,  the  number 
now  occupied  being  much  smaller  than  it  was  formerly. 

They  are  all  damp,  those  in  the  least  elevated  localities,  of  course, 
being  most  so.  In  very  many  cases  the  vaults  of  privies  are  situated  on 
the  same  or  a  higher  level,  and  their  contents  frequently  ooze  through 
walls  into  the  occupied  apartments  beside  them.  Fully  one-fourth  of  these 
subterranean  domiciles  arc  pervaded  by  a  most  offensive  odor  from  this 
source,  and  rendered  exceedingly  unwholesome  as  human  habitations. 
These  are  the  places  in  which  we  most  frequently  meet  with  typhoid  fever 
and  dysentery  during  the  summer  months.  I  estimate  the  amount  of 
sickness  of  all  kinds  affecting  the  residents  of  basements  and  cellars  com- 
pared with  that  occurring  among  an  equal  number  of  the  inhabitants  of 
floors  above  ground,  as  being  about  in  the  ratio  of  3  to  2. 

Privies. — Of  the  privies  in  this  district  less  than  30  per  cent,  arc  con- 
nected with  drains  or  sewers.    About  15  per  cent,  arc  situated  in  houses 


The  floors  of  16 
«  91 
"  84 
«  28 
"  5 


56 


.REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


occupied  as  dwellings,  generally  in  the  basement.  At  least  10  per  cent, 
were  found  in  a  very  offensive  condition.  The  proximity  of  the  latter  to 
the  fever  localities  is  shown  by  the  large  map.  There  is  a  section  of  my 
district  embracing  at  least  nine  blocks,  in  every  part  of  which  the  pecu- 
liar odor  arising  from  privies  is  always  distinctly  perceptible  during  the 
summer  months.  From  this  region  fever  is  never  absent.  I  refer  to 
typhus  and  typhoid,  for  intermittent  and  remittent  fever  do  not  prevail  in 
this  neighborhood  even  in  the  low  tract  adjoining  the  river.  Such  a  gen- 
tle fiend  as  paludal  miasma  flies  affrighted  from  the  terrific  phantoms  of 
disease  that  reign  supreme  in  this  domain  of  pestilence. 

Rents. — In  regular  tenant-houses  the  rent  of  each  domicile  at  present 
averages  $9  per  month,  or  $108  per  year  ;  the  entire  rent  of  each  of  these 
houses  thus  averaging  $950  per  annum. 

Excessive  Crowding  of  Mouses  upon  Lots. — In  some  cases  front  and 
rear  buildings  are  situated  on  lots  less  than  80  feet  deep.  They  are  gen- 
erally crowded  into  the  smallest  possible  space,  and  are  constructed  in  the 
cheapest  manner. 

They  are,  in  many  instances,  owned  by  large  capitalists,  by  whom 
they  are  farmed  out  to  a  class  of  factors  who  make  this  their  especial 
business.*    These  men  pay  to  the  owners  of  the  property  a  sum  which  is 

*  The  diagram  on  the  opposite  page  represents  an  area  eighty  yards  long  and  fifty  yards 
wide,  including  the  cul-de-sac  at  the  termination  of  Cliff  Street.  It  illustrates  the  prox- 
imity to  crowded  habitations  of  offensive  and  dangerous  nuisances,  often  observed  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  city.  The  diagram  presents  an  accurate  ground  plan  of  each  tenant- 
house  which  it  embraces.  Within  this  space  are  20  dwellings  occupied  by  111  families, 
and  having  a  population  of  538  persons.  A  soap-and-candlc  factory,  a  tannery,  and  five 
stables,  in  which  are  kept  not  less  than  30  horses,  are  also  wholly  or  partially  included 
within  its  limits. 

A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  are  tenant-houses  fronting  on  Vandewater  Street.  An  alley  four  feet 
wide  running  through  C  forms  the  sole  communication  with  the  five  tenant-houses  F,  G, 
H,  I,  J,  which  open  into  the  small  court  R,  in  which  stands  their  common  privy,  f,  situ- 
ated within  three  feet  of  the  hall  door  of  one  of  the  houses,  which  is  constantly  pervaded 
by  its  noisome  odor ;  c,  d,  c,  are  privies  situated  immediately  under  the  windows  of  the 
houses  F,  G,  II ;  a  and  b  are  privies  belonging  to  the  tenant-houses  A  and  B ;  K,  L,  M, 
N,  are  tenant-houses  standing  back  to  back  with  two  of  those  in  the  court  above 
mentioned  and  with  three  stables  to  which  access  is  had  from  Vandewater  Street.  The 
position  of  two  stables  fronting  on  Cliff  Street  will  also  be  observed.  The  soap-and- 
candlc  factory,  whose  frontage  is  shown  in  the  cut,  is  a  very  extensivo  one,  and  its  emana- 
tions vitiate  the  atmosphere  for  a  considerable  space  around. 

T,  T,  T,  represent  a  scries  of  tan  vats,  in  the  rear  of  a  leather  factory  on  Frankfort 
Street,  which  generally  contain  a  largo  number  of  green  hides  in  a  very  offensive  condi- 
tion. The  peculiar  stench  from  this  source  is  usually  quite  perceptible  through  the  entiro 
area  shown  in  the  engraving. 

This  locality  lies  on  the  borders  of  a  former  marsh  known  as  "  Bookman's  Swamp."  The 


CROWDED  AREAS  AND  AN  INSALUBRIOUS  QUARTER. 


58 


REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTH  SAMTARY  DISTRICT. 


considered  a  fair  return  on  the  capital  invested,  and  rely  for  their  profits 
(which  are  often  enormous)  on  the  additional  amount  which  they  can  ex- 
tort from  the  wretched  tenants  whose  homes  frequently  hecome  almost 
untenantable  for  want  of  repairs,  which  the  ;'  agent"  deems  it  to  his  inter- 
est to  withhold.  These  men  contrive  to  absorb  most  of  the  scanty  surplus 
which  remains  to  the  tenants  after  paying  for  their  miserable  food,  shelter, 
and  raiment.  They  are,  in  many  instances,  proprietors  of  low  groceries, 
liquor  stores,  and  "policy  shops"  connected  with  such  premises — the 
same  individual  often  being  the  actual  owner  of  a  large  number.  Many 
of  the  wretched  population  are  held  by  these  men  in  a  state  of  abject  de- 
pendence and  vassalage  little  short  of  absolute  slavery. 

These  are  the  men  whose  influence,  purchased  by  corrupt  politicians, 
secures  their  election  to  the  municipal  ofiices  which  they  disgrace.  Hold- 
ing in  their  grasp  the  votes  of  their  dependents,  and  by  their  combined 
action  being  thus  enabled  to  elect  whom  they  please,  their  power  is  almost 
supreme.  In  the  past  they  have  controlled  our  health  organization,  and 
made  it  what  it  is.  In  the  future  they  propose  to  perpetuate  it.  Confi- 
dent in  the  system  which  secures  their  political  strength,  they  set  at  de- 
fience  the  wishes  and  opinions  of  all  who  take  an  intelligent  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  our  city. 

Overcrowding,  the  source  of  the  greatest  sanitary  and  social  evils, 
6teadily  increases  in  the  Fourth  District.  Within  the  last  ten  years  the 
extension  of  Bowery  and  Chambers  Street  through  the  most  densely-pop- 
ulated portions  of  this  district,  has  thrown  into  thoroughfares  a  large  sec- 
tion formerly  occupied  principally  by  tenant-houses.  During  the  same 
period,  another  large  section  has  been  devoted  to  business  purposes  ;  but, 
although  these  combined  causes  have  reduced  by  fully  one-third  the  inhab- 
ited area,  yet  the  population  remains  about  the  same  as  before.  Good 
hygienic  conditions  cannot  be  obtained  until  the  present  system  of  packing 
is  broken  up  and  the  pro  rata  of  cubic  space  to  the  individual  at  least 
doubled.  The  removal  of  one-half  of  the  present  population  of  the  district 
will  be  a  necessary  preliminary  to  any  complete  system  of  sanitary  reform. 
The  establishment  of  suitable  residences  for  the  poor,  if  not  accom- 
plished by  private  enterprise,  should  become  a  subject  of  municipal  and 
legislative  action. 

appearance  of  every  inhabitant  of  this  region  indicates  a  low  and  vitiated  condition 
of  the  system,  rendering  it  specially  susceptible  to  adynamic  forms  of  fever,  which,  during 
epidemic  visitations,  have  on  several  occasions  spread  with  terrific  rapidity  through  the  en- 
tire quarter.  Typhus  fever  has  prevailed  during  the  past  year  to  a  considerable  extent  in 
some  of  these  houses,  while  small-pox  has  been  rife  in  the  tcnantrhouscs  on  Vandcwatcr 
Street.    It  has  been  observed  that  scarlatina  is  especially  malignant  and  fatal  here. 


HOMES  FOR  THE  POOK. — MARKETS. — FOOD. 


59 


A  tract  equal  in  extent  to  Central  Park,  occupied  by  dwellings 
designed  for  their  homes,  -which  should  possess  the  indispensable  hygienic 
conditions  of  sufficient  air-space,  and  light,  good  ventilation  and  drain- 
age, and  placed  under  such  police  regulations  as  should  secure  the  exclu- 
sion or  prompt  suppression  of  all  nuisances,  would  be  an  inestimable  boon 
to  this  class,  and  a  greater  benefit  to  the  entire  community  than  even  the 
splendid  ornament  to  our  city  above  named.  Simply  as  an  investment 
of  funds  there  is  no  doubt  that  such  an  enterprise  would  pay,  but  its  ben- 
efits could  not  be  measured  by  any  standard  of  pecuniary  profit.  It 
would  be  the  proudest  work  of  which  our  imperial  city  could  boast,  and 
thousands  of  her  sons  thus  rescued  from  degradation  and  wretchedness 
would,  in  future  years,  "  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed." 

Vacant  Lots,  &c. — There  are  but  few  vacant  lots  in  this  district, 
and  on  most  of  them  buildings  are  now  in  process  of  construction. 
There  are  fifteen  coal  yards.  As  far  as  I  am  aware,  none  of  them  exer- 
cise any  unfavorable  influence  on  the  public  health  beyond  that  caused  by 
the  great  amount  of  dust  which  at  times  arises  from  them,  to  be  inhaled 
by  the  neighboring  residents. 

The  only  place  of  sepulture  is  the  "  Jews'  Burying  Ground,"  a  very 
ancient  cemetery,  which  of  late  years  has  been  much  reduced  in  size 
by  the  extension  of  the  Bowery.  It  now  has  a  frontage  on  the  latter 
street.    Its  present  area  is  about  5,000  square  feet. 

Liquor  Stores. — The  number  of  liquor  stores  and  drinking  places  is 
446  ;  which  is  one  to  every  8  families,  or  one  to  every  49  persons.  329 
are  located  in  houses  otherwise  occupied  as  residences  ;  28  are  reputed  to 
be  brothels  ;  5  or  6  are  "  sailors'  dance-houses."  The  number  of  places 
where  articles  of  food  are  sold  is  134,  or  one  to  every  27  families,  or 
164  persons. 

Food  and  Markets. — The  quality  of  the  food  sold  at  the  corner  gro- 
ceries and  butchers'  shops  in  this  neighborhood  deserves  a  more  extended 
notice  than  it  can  receive  here.  A  casual  examination  shows  much  of  it 
to  be  unfit  for  human  sustenance.  Unwholesome  meat,  particularly  slunk 
veal,  is  constantly  vended  and  consumed.  Piles  of  pickled  herrings  are 
exposed  to  the  air  till  the  mass  approaches  a  condition  of  putridity  ;  and 
this  slimy  food,  with  wilted  and  decayed  vegetables,  sausages  not  above 
suspicion,  and  horrible  pics,  composed  of  stale  and  unripe  fruits,  whose 
digestion  no  human  stomach  can  accomplish,  all  find  ready  purchasers. 

These  decaying  animal  and  vegetable  remains  are  daily  entombed  in 
the  protuberant  stomachs  of  thousands  of  children,  whose  pallid,  expres- 
sionless faces  and  shrunken  limbs  are  the  familiar  attributes  of  chi'dhood 
in  these  localities.    They  constitute  the  food  of  thousands  of  prematurely- 


60  REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

aged  men  and  women,  who  seek  relief  from  the  poisonous  effects  of  such 
viands  in  the  more  poisonous  stimulants  which  are  vended  side  by  side 
with  them.  The  latter  are  almost  universally  used  by  the  population  of 
this  district,  and,  it  need  scarcely  be  said,  are  adulterated  to  the  greatest 
possible  extent.  Narcotic  poisons  take  the  place  of  the  more  expensive 
alcohol,  while  mineral  acids  are  often  used  to  give  pungency  to  the  bev- 
erage. Nor  are  the  other  articles  of  drink  sold  to  the  denizens  of  this 
quarter  more  pure  or  less  injurious  than  the  solid  food.  Milk  preserves 
little  more  of  its  original  qualities  than  the  color  and  the  name.  The 
"  fresh-ground  coffee  "  used  here  has  never  been  fanned  by  the  breezes  of 
"Araby  the  blest."  It  is  innocent  of  the  slightest  association  with 
swamps  of  Java  or  Brazilian  plains.  It  may  be  interesting  to  some 
portions  of  the  public  to  know  something  of  its  history  previous  to  its 
assuming  its  status  and  title  as  a  beverage.  It  runs  somewhat  in  this 
wise :  That  professional  chiffonier,  the  New  York  ragpicker,  derives  the 
emoluments  of  his  calling  from  several  distinct  sources.  The  products 
extracted  from  the  dubious  mines  in  which  he  delves,  viz.,  the  gutter,  the 
garbage-box,  the  ash-barrel,  &c,  are  various,  having  only  this  in  com- 
mon, that  they  are  all  extremely  filthy.  Thus  the  textile  contents  of  his 
bag  and  basket  go  to  the  paper  mill  and  shoddy  factory.  Bones  find  their 
destiny  in  saponaceous  and  fertilizing  compounds ;  metallic  articles  are 
transferred  to  the  junk  shop  ;  and  even  bits  of  coal  find  their  appropriate 
uses.  But  there  still  remains  a  residuum  which  his  professional  genius 
has  contrived  to  make  a  source  of  profit.  This  consists  of  fragments  of 
bread  and  other  farinacious  food,  decaying  potatoes,  cabbages,  &c,  inter- 
spersed with  lifeless  cats,  rats,  and  puppies,  thus  introduced  to  a  post 
mortem  fellowship.  I  shall  not  stop  to  trace  the  occasional  metamorpho- 
sis of  the  latter  into  the  familiar  sausage,  but  proceed  to  state  that  much 
of  the  above  miscellaneous  collection  is  supplied  to  certain  sailors'  board- 
ing-houses, and  enters  into  the  composition  of  bread  puddings,  and  of  a 
sort  of  '"long-shore  lobscouse"  which  Jack  loves  "not  wisely  but  too 
well." 

There  is,  however,  a  debris  of  material  too  thoroughly  saturated  with 
street-mire  to  be  considered  savory,  even  in  the  above  compound  ;  but  this 
is  by  no  means  destined  to  be  wasted.  It  is  sold  to  the  manufacturers  of 
cheap  coffee.  It  is  dessicated,  partially  carbonized,  mingled  with  a  small 
proportion  of  chickory,  &c,  ground,  and  is  ready  to  fulfil  its  destiny. 

Some  of  my  professional  brethren  who  have  a  down-town  practice, 
when  belated  in  the  vicinity  of  Chatham  Street,  may  possibly  have  sought 
refreshment  in  the  popular  form  of  "  coffee  and  cakes,"  at  some  of  tho 
numerous  night  saloons  in  that  neighborhood,  and  thus  havo  had  an  op- 


FOUNTAINS  OF  DISEASE. — FETEES. 


01 


portunity  to  test  the  merits  of  the  above-described  beverage.  If  so,  the 
uproar  into  which  the  digestive  organs  were  subsequently  thrown,  doubt- 
less left  a  lasting  impression  on  the  memory. 

Junk  Shops  and  Pestilence. — I  have  noted  about  80  junk  shops 
and  second-hand  stores  in  this  district.  They  not  unfrequently  become 
sources  whence  infectious  disease  is  disseminated.  The  articles  of  wear- 
ing apparel  exposed  for  sale  at  stores  of  this  class  are  occasionally  brought 
from  the  most  pestilental  localities. 

It  too  often  happens  that  on  the  recovery,  removal,  or  death  of  a 
patient  ill  of  small-pox  or  typhus  fever,  all  the  clothing  used  about  his 
person  is  disposed  of  to  the  first  itinerant  dealer  that  calls,  and  thus  finds 
its  way,  saturated  with  contagion,  to  these  establishments.  Through 
these  reprehensible  practices  variolous  disease  is  doubtless  spread  far  and 
wide.  Nor  is  the  business  of  first-class  clothing  houses  carried  on  with- 
out occasionally  endangering  the  health  of  those  who  patronize  them.  In 
localities  where  smail-pox  prevailed  I  found,  in  some  instances  within  a 
few  feet  of  the  patients,  tailors  at  work  for  our  best  clothing  establish- 
ments. 

Such  infected  vestments — worse  than  the  tunic  of  the  Centaur — bring 
disease  and  death  not  only  to  the  wearer  but  to  many  others.  The  occu- 
pant of  the  crowded  tenant-house  procures  from  such  a  source  a  coat  or  a 
blanket,  and  soon  a  loathsome  pest  attacks  the  young  and  unprotected 
members  of  his  family,  and  ultimately  spreads  through  the  entire  quarter, 
destroying  life  after  life  and  endangering  the  health  of  a  large  commu- 
nity. Small-pox,  suddenly  breaking  out  in  some  secluded  rural  district, 
often  owes  its  unsuspected  origin  to  the  above  causes.  In  the  remote 
solitude  of  the  ocean  the  seaman  opens  the  chest  in  which  he  has  depos- 
ited such  obnoxious  apparel,  and  from  this  Pandora's  box  scatters  the 
seeds  of  pestilence  among  his  comrades,  which,  ripening,  shall  spread  its 
germs  to  distant  ports. 

Stables. — There  are  47  stables  in  this  district.  About  one-fourth  of 
the  number  are  large,  designed  for  from  10  to  20  horses  each.  The  re- 
mainder arc  small,  many  of  them  being  mere  shanties  in  the  rear  of 
tenement  or  other  buildings,  and  completely  destitute  of  any  means  of 
drainage.  The  manure  is  cither  allowed  to  remain  on  the  floors,  or  is 
deposited  in  receptacles  beneath,  whence  it  is  removed  at  intervals. 

The  noxious  gases  arising  from  these  places  contribute  in  no  small 
degree  toward  vitiating  the  atmosphere  of  the  crowded  tenements  by 
which  they  are  usually  surrounded. 

A  reference  to  the  large  map  accompanying  this  report  will  show  that 
many  of  the  localities  where  the  existence  of  typhus  or  typhoid  fovcr  is 


62 


REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


indicated  are  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  stables,  the  emanations  from 
which  appear  to  be  predisposing  if  not  exciting  causes  of  several  forms 
of  zymotic  disease. 

Influence  of  Stables  upon  Diseases. — Of  44  cases  of  erysipelas  oc- 
curing  during  the  past  year  no  less  than  31  were  adjacent  to  or  within 
twenty-five  feet  of  stables.  At  No.  10    Street,  which  is  con- 
tiguous to  one  of  the  largest  stables  in  this  district,  four  cases  of  this  affec- 
tion occurred.   The  rear  of  No.  27  Street  adjoins  a  stable,  and  is 

within  twenty  feet  of  another.  In  this  house,  which  is  occupied  by  five 
families,  there  were  three  cases  of  erysipelas.  The  rear  of  No.  22  Cherry 
Street,  which  contains  sixteen  families,  is  separated  from  a  large  stable 
by  a  vacant  lot,  into  which  runs  much  of  the  fluid  part  of  the  manure. 
In  this  house  five  cases  of  the  above  disease  were  reported  during  the 
year. 

Zymotic  affections  of  the  throat  and  lungs  appear  to  be  very  prevalent 
in  those  localities  where  the  litter  of  stables  is  undergoing  fermentation. 
One  of  my  colleagues  has  already  stated  to  the  Council  his  beUef  that 
gaseous  emanations  from  these  sources  are  conducive  to  the  spread  of 
diphtheria ;  and,  while  my  own  observations  tend  to  confirm  his  theory,  I 
believe  it  to  be  equally  true  of  an  insidious  and  very  fatal  form  of 
pneumonia.  I  am  not  prepared  to  assert  that  these  diseases  are  spon- 
taneously generated  under  the  influence  of  these  causes,  but  I  do  not 
doubt  that  by  their  continued  action  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  air- 
passages  is  brought  into  a  condition  which  renders  it  highly  receptive  of 
morbid  influences.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  zymotic  diseases  of  all 
kinds  appear  to  be  exceedingly  rife  in  this  region ;  but  I  have  found  it 
difficult  to  obtain  full  and  reliable  reports  of  all  the  pestilential  diseases 
that  prevail  here.  Agents,  lessees,  and  occupants  of  premises  where  they 
occur,  are  interested  in  concealing  the  existence  of  prevalent  maladies,  and 
generally  the  record  of  diseases  can  be  ascertained  only  by  searching 
inquiry.  In  many  instances,  too,  patients  sick  of  contagious  maladies 
arc  removed  to  hospital,  thus  rendering  it  impossible  without  recourse  to 
hospital  records  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  the  mortality  from  this 
cause.  In  several  cases  families  have  been  broken  up  by  the  successive 
or  simultaneous  attack  of  their  members  by  typhus.  This  occurred  at 
No.  11  Jacob  Street,  at  Nos.  34  and  38  Cherry  Street,  at  No.  3  Van- 
dewater  Street,  and  at  some  other  places,  at  each  of  which  places  entire 
families  were  known  to  have  had  fever,  but  concerning  whom  no  other 
data  could  be  found. 

Accompanying  this  report  is  a  list  of  19  cases  of  small-pox  and  46 
cases  of  typhus  and  typhoid  fever  that  have  recently  occurred  in  tene- 


CHILDREN  DIE  OF  FEVEES. 


G3 


ments  I  have  visited  in  this  district,  of  "which  complete  or  partial  his- 
tories have  heen  obtained.  This  list  gives  the  name,  age,  and  residence 
of  each  patient,  and  the  date  of  attack.  It  embraces  less  than  one-third 
of  the  entire  number  of  cases  of  the  above  diseases  which  have  occurred 
in  my  district  during  the  year. 

From  this  table  it  appears  that  of  the  small-pox  patients, 

2  resided  in  basement, 

3  "      "    1st  story, 
8      "      "   2d  " 

2      "      "   3d  " 
2      "      "   4th  " 
2      "      "   5th  " 
Of  the  typhus  and  typhoid  fever  patients,* 
5  resided  in  basement, 
13      "      "   1st  story, 
20      "      "   2d  " 
7      "      "   3d   "  • 
1      "      «   4th  " 

Typhus  always  appears  to  diminish  during  the  summer  months  when 
the  heat  forces  the  inhabitants  to  throw  open  their  windows,  and  to  use 
such  means  of  ventilation  as  are  at  their  command  ;  yet  at  no  time  during 
the  past  year  has  this  district  been  entirely  free  from  it.  Here  those 
zymoses  which  depend  for  their  origin  on  animal  effluvia  perpetually  pre- 
vail. Diarrhoea  and  dysentery  are  prevalent  at  all  times,  though  pecu- 
liarly so  during  the  summer  and  autumn.  This  may  be  attributed  in  part 
to  the  use  of  putrescent  and  indigestible  food ;  but  the  toxemia  resulting 
from  the  absorption  of  concentrated  aerial  poisons  predisposes  the  system 
to  take  on  this  as  well  as  kindred  morbid  affections  from  the  slightest  ex- 
citing causes. 

Pulmonary  Phthisis. — Under  the  prostrating  agencies  ever  at  work  in 
the  abodes  of  the  poor,  pulmonary  consumption  is  developed  with  fearful 
rapidity ;  nor  to  such  depressing  influences  alone  are  due  its  wide-spread 

*  Of  the  typhus  and  typhoid  fever  patients  whose  age  was  ascertained,  it  was  less  than 
twelve  years  in  about  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  cases.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  an  exceedingly 
large  proportion  of  children  arc  attacked  by  these  maladies.  I  think  it  shows  conclusively 
the  activity  and  virulence  of  the  causes  that  produce  these  diseases  that  they  seize  so  many 
persons  at  the  outset  of  life,  who,  were  the  febrifacient  poison  jnore  diluted  and  conse- 
quently slower  in  its  action,  would  not  become  the  subjects  of  these  morbid  agencies  until 
a  far  later  period.  It  must  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  cases  here  reported  constitute 
but  a  small  proportion  of  the  total  number  of  fever  cases  that  have  occurred  in  this  dis- 
trict during  the  year. 


64: 


REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


ravages.  The  dust  and  smoke  which  constantly  pervade  their  apartments 
keep  the  delicate  tissues  of  the  air-passages  in  a  state  of  perpetual  irrita- 
tion, which  disposes  them  to  take  on  disease  from  causes  which  would 
otherwise  be  harmless  or  inert. 

Infantile  Disease  and  Mortality. — But  it  is  on  the  tender  and 
susceptible  frames  of  infants  that  the  effects  of  these  influences  are  most 
speedily  and  strikingly  manifested.  Like  the  fabled  vampires,  marasmus 
and  its  kindred  diseases  here  hover  about  the  pillow  of  childhood,  sipping 
from  the  dewy  springs  of  life  till  life  itself  is  gone.  On  the  walls  of  these 
living  tombs  Death  hastens  to  inscribe  the  names  of  more  than  half  of 
those  whose  hapless  fate  it  is  to  be  born  within  their  dismal  precincts. 

The  evils  attendant  upon  a  residence  in  crowded  localities  are  not  al- 
ways manifested  in  distinct  forms  of  disease.  There  is  a  tenant-house 
cachexy  well  known  to  such  medical  men  as  have  a  practical  acquaintance 
with  these  abodes ;  nor  does  it  affect  alone  the  physical  condition  of  their 
inmates.  It  has  its  moral  prototype  in  an  ochlesis  of  vice — a  contagious 
depravity,  to  whose  mab'gn  influence  the  youthful  survivors  of  the  terrible 
physical  evils  to  which  their  infancy  is  exposed,  are  sure  to  succumb. 

As  pertinent  to  this  subject  I  quote  a  paragraph  or  two  from  my  re- 
port on  "  Gotham  Court,"  before  mentioned  : 

"  We  often  find  in  persons  of  less  than  middle  age  who  have  long  oc- 
cupied such  confined  and  filthy  premises,  a  morbid  condition  of  the  sys- 
tem unknown  elsewhere.  The  eye  becomes  bleared,  the  senses  blunted, 
the  limbs  shrunken  and  tremulous,  the  secretions  exceedingly  offensive. 

"  There  is  a  state  of  premature  decay.  In  this  condition  of  life  the 
ties  of  nature  seem  to  be  unloosed.  Maternal  instisct  and  filial  affection 
seem  to  participate  in  the  general  decay  of  soul  and  body.  A  kind  Provi- 
dence, whose  hand  is  visible  even  here,  mercifully  provides  that  the  almost 
inevitable  decay  and  death  which  man's  criminal  neglect  entails  on  the 
offspring  of  the  unfortunates  who  dwell  in  these  dreary  mansions,  shall 
elicit  comparatively  feeble  pangs  of  parental  anguish. 

"  To  the  physical  and  moral  degradation,  the  blight  of  these  miserable 
abodes,  where  decay  reigns  supreme  over  habitation  and  inhabitant  alike, 
may  be  plainly  traced  much  of  the  immorality  and  crime  which  prevail 
among  us.  The  established  truth,  that,  as  the  corporeal  frame  deterio- 
rates, man's  spiritual  nature  is  liable  also  to  degenerate,  receives  its  apt 
illustration  here." 

The  Tenant-H&usc  Rot. — The  state  of  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
decline  to  which  I  have  adverted,  is  so  well  recognized  and  its  causes  so 
well  understood,  that  it  has  received  a  name,  less  elegant  than  expressive  ; 
it  is  called  the  Tenant-House  Rot. 


"  TENANT-HOUSE  EOT." — MOBS.  CEEME. 


65 


Under  such  influences  are  reared  to-day  a  large  proportion  of  the 
future  citizens  of  New  York,  who  will  control  its  social  and  political  des- 
tinies. Under  such  influences  have  been  reared  a  large  class,  already  so 
numerous  as  at  times  to  seriously  disturb  the  public  peace  and  to  endanger 
the  safety  of  our  social  and  political  fabric. 

The  terrible  elements  of  society  we  saw  brought  to  the  surface  during 
a  great  popular  outbreak,  are  equally  in  existence  at  the  present  moment ; 
nay,  more,  they  are  increasing  year  by  year.  The  tocsin  which  next 
summons  them  from  their  dark  and  noisome  haunts  may  be  the  prelude  to 
a  scene  of  universal  pillage,  slaughter,  and  destruction.  We  must  reap 
that  which  we  sow.  Pestilence  and  crime  are  fungi  of  hideous  growth, 
which  spring  up  side  by  side  from  such  pollution  as  we  allow  to  rankle 
in  our  midst. 


5 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

FIFTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT.    [Section  A.] 


E.   B.    WARNER,    M.  D ., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries . — North  by  West  Houston  Street,  south  by  Spring  Street, 
east  by  Broadway,  west  by  the  Hudson  River. 

Topography. — The  natural  water-sheds  of  the  original  or  primitive 
formation  of  the  surface  in  this  portion  of  the  city,  can  he  readily  traced 
at  the  present  time.  The  main  feature  of  the  topography  of  the  district 
consisted  in  two  hills ;  the  principal  one,  known  as  Richmond  Hill,  had 
its  highest  elevation  ahout  Varick  Street,  its  descent  in  a  westerly  direc- 
tion was  toward  the  river,  and  in  an  easterly  direction  toward  Thomp- 
son Street.  The  highest  elevation  of  the  other  hill  was  ahout  Wooster 
Street,  with  a  descent  also  toward  Thompson  Street,  forming  in  this  way 
a  ravine  in  the  neighborhood  of  Thompson  Street,  and  draining  the  hills, 
and  carrying  the  water  into  what  was  then  known  as  the  Collect.  This 
gives  us  the  key  to  the  natural  drainage  of  the  district ;  the  portion  lying 
between  Broadway  and  Thompson  Street,  and  Macdougal  and  Thompson 
Streets,  is  at  the  present  time  drained  by  a  sewer  which  extends  through 
Thompson  to  Canal  Street ;  thence  by  the  Canal  Street  sewer  to  the  river. 
The  remaining  portion  of  the  district,  which  extends  from  Macdougal 
Street  to  the  western  limit,  has  a  natural  inclination  toward  the  river, 
thus  forming  an  excellent  water-shed  in  that  direction.  The  sewerage  of 
this  district  might  therefore  be  maintained  with  little  expense  and  labor 
in  a  very  perfect  condition.  The  projectors  of  the  sewers  have  apparently 
followed  the  inclinations  indicated  by  the  natural  conformation  of  the  dis- 
trict. A  noticeable  defect  is  seen  in  the  culverts,  which  are  not  free  from 
the  more  Bolid  portions  of  the  refuse  carried  into  them  after  heavy  rains. 
The  remedy  consists  in  the  removal  of  the  overflow  stone  and  the  free  use 


THE  INHABITANTS . — THEIR  DWELLINGS. 


67 


of  the  Croton-water,  so  that  the  culvert  aud  sewer  may  he  thoroughly 
washed  out  each  day.  In  this  manner  one  of  the  most  fruitful  sources  of 
malarious  and  enteric  diseases  in  the  city  would  he  removed. 

Streets. — The  streets  have  an  average  width  of  about  35  feet,  and 
they  run  at  right  angles  with  each  other ;  they  are  all  paved  with  cob- 
ble stones,  with  the  exception  of  Broadway  and  Greenwich  Street ;  the 
curbs  and  gutters  generally  are  in  good  condition,  and  the  surface  well 
drained.  All  the  streets  of  this  district  are  furnished  with  sewers  with 
the  exception  of  a  small  portion  of  West  Houston  Street ;  and  such  of  the 
outlets  as  empty  into  the  Hudson  River  are  below  high-water  mark. 

Squares. — The  number  of  squares  in  the  district  is  33  ;  the  majority 
of  them  are  in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition  ;  the  great  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants are  cartmen,  mechanics,  and  laborers. 

Inhabitants. — It  is  less  thickly  populated  toward  Broadway,  but 
more  so  from  Macdougal  Street  to  the  river  ;  that  portion  of  the  district 
west  of  Varick  Street  is  the  most  densely  settled.  There  are  a  few  ne- 
groes, but  the  Irish  and  Germans  comprise  the  larger  part. 

Buildings. — By  reference  to  the  accompanying  tabular  statement,  the 
entire  number  of  dwellings  in  the  district  is  1,503. 

Of  these  1,170  are  brick  dwellings,  front. 
"  122  are  frame  dwellings,  front. 
"  147  are  brick  dwellings,  rear. 
"         64  are  frame  dwellings,  rear. 

There  are,  therefore,  1,292  front  dwellings,  and  211  rear  dwellings. 

There  are  120  liquor  stores,  and  78  groceries  in  which  liquor  is  sold 
in  this  district.  Most  of  the  dwellings  date  from  a  period  antecedent  to 
the  introduction  of  the  Croton-water.  The  more  modern  improvements 
have  generally  been  added  with  supply  of  water. 

A  large  number  of  so-called  private  dwellings  are  occupied  by  keepers 
of  brothels  and  assignation  houses.  There  are  108  in  the  district.  These 
dwellings  are  generally  in  a  cleanly  condition  both  externally  and  internally.* 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  dwellings  belong  to  the  class  desig- 
nated "  tenant-houses."  These  tenements  are  universally  unclean  and 
offensive  with  the  emanations  from  the  decomposing  refuse  which  sur- 
round and  permeate  the  apartments  of  the  poor.  To  the  want  of  proper 
facilities  for  cleanliness  are  added  the  objectionable  personal  habits  of  the 
people  themselves.  "We  refer  here  to  that  portion  bounded  by  West 
Houston  and  Charlton  Streets,  and  by  Varick  and  Greenwich  Streets. 

*  The  explanation  is  that  these  establishments  in  this  district  are  of  the  most  re- 
spectable class,  being  in  the  vicinity  of  the  great  hotels  and  the  places  of  public  amusement. 


68 


REPORT  OF  THE  FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


There  are  many  of  the  worst  class  of  tenant-houses  in  this  district. 
The  contractors  and  proprietors  have  evidently  had  but  one  object  in  view, 
viz.,  to  obtain  the  largest  amount  of  income  with  the  least  possible  ex- 
penditure. As  these  dwellings  were  designed  for  a  very  poor  class  of  the 
population,  this  end  could  only  be  accomplished  by  covering  the  lots 
of  ground  with  the  largest  p«ssible  buildings,  and  divide  them  into 
the  largest  number  of  rooms.  We  generally  find  a  front  and  a  rear 
building,  separated  by  a  narrow  common  court ;  the  rear  building 
is  reached  by  a  narrow  and  filthy  alley-way.  The  halls  and  stairways 
of  these  buildings  are  generally  narrowed  as  much  as  possible,  without 
being  sufficiently  lighted  by  windows,  and  are  consequently  badly  ven- 
tilated. Indeed,  no  air  circulates  here,  except  what  enters  at  the  open 
door  below,  and  frequently  it  escapes  only  through  the  open  hatchway 
above.  On  each  floor  of  many  of  these  houses  are  four  families,  each 
family  confined  to  a  common  room  11  X  14,  having  an  average  of  about 
6  persons  to  a  family.  In  each  building  of  5  stories,  therefore,  there 
is  an  average  of  20  families  of  120  persons.  The  sleeping  apartments 
are  generally  much  smaller  than  the  common  sitting-room,  very  often 
having  no  window,  or  a  window  that  opens  into  the  hall ;  the  sleeping 
room  is  about  8  X  10  feet.  Very  many  who  occupy  this  class  of  houses  arc 
of  careless  and  filthy  habits,  taking  no  concern  for  the  general  comfort  or 
neatness  of  their  apartments ;  sleeping  and  eating  together  in  their  ill- 
ventilated  and  crowded  apartments  ;  disposing  of  their  slops  and  garbage 
so  as  to  save  themselves  from  personal  exertion,  as  much  as  possible, 
with  very  few  facilities  to  aid  them ;  employing  their  ill-trained,  ill- 
conditioned  children  in  these  household  labors  of  carrying  water  and 
slops  through,  the  dark  passage-ways,  and  up  and  down  rickety  stairs.  It 
is  but  fair  to  presume,  that  as  the  masses  are  improved  in  their  education, 
and  their  general  intelligence  brought  into  play,  more  rapid  advances  will 
be  made  in  the  diffusion  and  thorough  comprehension  of  the  benefits  of 
sanitary  science. 

It  is  patent  to  every  sanitary  observer  that  the  chief  difficulty  lies  with 
the  poorer  classes  of  the  foreign  population,  and  this  generally  disap- 
pears in  the  second  or  third  generation. 

Diseases. — There  has  been  small-pox  in  the  square  bounded  by 
Spring,  Prince,  Thompson,  and  Sullivan  Streets  ;  about  twenty  cases 
occurring  during  the  months  of  September  and  October.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  twelve  cases,  some  of  which  aro  very  severe.  This  disease 
also  made  its  appearance  about  three  months  since  in  the  square  bounded 
by  Varick,  Hudson,  King,  and  Charlton  Streets  ;  I  have  reported  twelve 
cnBcs  from  this  locality,  and  learn  that  it  is  still  prevalent  in  this  portion 


PREVALENT  DISEASES. — PREVENTION. 


69 


of  the  district.  Its  most  probable  source  was  an  emigrant  family  which 
occupied  apartments  in  the  rear  of  No.  74  King  Street.  Sickness  broke 
out  among  the  members  shortly  after  their  coming  from  shipboard.  They 
were  all  removed  to  Ward's  Island,  sutFering,  it  was  stated,  with  typhus  fever. 

Remedial  Measures. — So  long  as  the  authorities  do  not  regulate  the 
dwellings  of  the  laboring  classes  by  compulsory  laws,  binding  equally  the 
proprietors  and  tenants  to  the  observance  of  proper  internal  and  external 
domiciliary  arrangements,  so  long  will  the  sanitary  advantages  which 
nature  has  lavished  upon  this  metropolis  be  entirely  nullified.  They 
should  enforce  a  proper  system  of  tenant-house  construction,  and  not 
permit  the  poorer  classes  to  be  subjected  to  the  caprice  and  avarice  of  the 
landlords.  And  it  is  equally  important  that  the  occupants  of  these  houses 
should  not  be  allowed  to  vitiate  sanitary  regulations,  by  negligence  or 
gross  carelessness.  The  authorities  should  also  enforce  the  proper  clean- 
ing of  the  public  thoroughfares,  and  the  by-ways  and  alleys,  lanes,  &c, 
and  the  daily  removal  of  all  the  garbage.  These  two  reforms  are  the 
great  essentials  of  civic  healthfulness. 


Statistical  Recapitulation  of  Buildings  (5th  District). 


STEEETS. 

Front  Brick  Dwellings. 

Front  Frame  Dwell- 
ings. 

Eear  Brick  Dwellings. 

Eear  Frame  Dwellings. 

Liquor  Stores. 

Grocery  and  Liquors. 

Miscellaneous  Stores. 

Houses  of  Assignation 
and  Prostitution. 

a 

3 

d 
QQ 

Oyster  Saloons,  Fish 
and  Meat  Markets. 

Factories. 

Churches. 

Junk  Shops. 

Spring  Street,  .... 

86 

6 

3 

2 

16 

9 

56 

5 

9 

2 

4 

0 

0 

Prince  Street,  .... 

85 

6 

3 

2 

11 

9 

26 

1 

9 

1 

4 

0 

0 

W.  Houston  Street, 

100 

2 

10 

8 

11 

4 

28 

8 

6 

2 

1 

0 

2 

Vandam  Street, . . . 

78 

15 

8 

9 

3 

1 

4 

0 

6 

1 

3 

0 

0 

Charlton  Street, . . . 

105 

8 

29 

15 

5 

2 

14 

0 

"3 

0 

3 

0 

0 

11 

8 

8 

2 

3 

9 

9 

0 

7 

0 

8 

1 

1 

40 

0 

0 

0 

5 

0 

39 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

0 

35 

1 

6 

1 

8 

0 

10 

31 

7 

7 

9 

0 

0 

Greene  Street,  .... 

28 

6 

8 

2 

5 

1 

5 

34 

2 

1 

2 

0 

0 

Wooster  Street, . . . 

50 

1 

7 

7 

5 

3 

15 

13 

0 

1 

4 

0 

0 

Laurens  Street,. . . . 

no 

12 

14 

7 

1 

4 

20 

5 

15 

1 

4 

0 

0 

Thompson  Street,.. 

64 

3 

11 

2 

0 

3 

9 

2 

27 

5 

6 

2 

1 

Sullivan  Street,.. . . 

50 

5 

14 

5 

2 

7 

7 

2 

5 

2 

0 

2 

0 

Macdougal  Street,. 

47 

11 

8 

2 

1 

4 

11 

1 

31 

it 

2 

1 

0 

Congress  Street, . . . 

5 

0 

6 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

14 

0 

2 

0 

0 

76 

19 

5 

0 

5 

7 

26 

0 

14 

6 

8 

0 

0 

Hudson  Street,. . . . 

70 

13 

0 

0 

10 

3 

56 

0 

0 

2 

2 

0 

0 

Greenwich  Street, . . 

59 

5 

5 

0 

12 

5 

19 

0 

3 

2 

2 

0 

1 

Washington  Street, 

44 

1 

2 

0 

5 

2 

18 

0 

9 

0 

3 

0 

1 

25 

0 

0 

0 

12 

5 

19 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

Total, ..."  

1170 

122 

147 

64 

120 

78 

381 

108 

167 

40 

64 

6 

9 

EEPOET 


OP  THE 

FIFTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT.    [Section  B.] 


J.    W.   PTJRDY,    M .  D  . . 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Bound ahies . — North  by  Christopher  Street,  east  by  Sixth  Avenue,  south 
by  Houston  Street,  west  by  the  North  River. 

Topography. — This  district  is  level,  and  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained 
there  is  very  little  made  ground  ;  the  soil  is  sandy  or  gravelly. 

Streets. — The  streets  are  very  irregular  in  their  course,  but  approxi- 
mate north  and  south,  east  and  •west.  They  arc  about  30  feet  in  width, 
and  are  paved  with  cobble  stone,  except  Sixth  Avenue,  Bleecker  Street, 
and  Greenwich  Street,  -which  are  Belgian.  The  surface  of  the  streets  is 
generally  irregular  or  uneven,  especially  in  "West  Street.  The  gutters,  as 
a  rule,  are  in  good  order,  though  in  some  places  they  are  broken,  leaving 
holes  in  which  water,  often  slimy,  stands  until  evaporated  or  washed  away 
by  the  next  rain. 

Sewers. — This -district  is  pretty  thoroughly  sewered,  every  street  but 
one  having  a  sewer  in  some  portion  of  it ;  their  outlets  are  above  low 
tide. 

Squares. — There  are  forty-two  squares  in  the  district,  divided  as  to 
their  sanitary  condition  about  equally  into  good,  bad,  and  mixed. 

Inhabitants . — A  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  district 
arc  of  the  laboring  classes,  the  remainder  are  storekeepers,  clerks,  and 
merchants. 

Buildings. — The  total  number  of  buildings  in  the  district  is  1,574,  of 
which  number  1,14G  aro  private  dwellings,  and  185  arc  tenant-houses ; 
there  arc  47G  stores  and  12  saloons  ;  G3  manufactories  of  various  kinds  ; 
4  slaughter  houses,  and  8  churches. 

Private  Residences. — The  private  residences  arc  generally  old- 


TENANT-HOUSES,  ETC. 


Tl 


fashioned  two  and  three  story  houses,  with  good  water  supply  ;  the  sinks 
are  generally  in  the  yard,  and  for  the  most  part  they  are  connected  with 
the  street  sewer.  The  material  used  in  the  construction  of  16  is  wood, 
and  of  1,130  brick. 

Tenant-Houses. — The  tenant-houses  are,  with  few  exceptions,  old 
buildings,  originally  private  dwellings,  in  which  are  now  crowded  from 
four  to  six  families,  averaging  five  persons  each.  The  greater  number 
have  water  in  the  yard,  court,  or  alley ;  the  sinks  in  nine-tenths  are  in  the 
yard,  and  in  a  filthy  condition ;  the  garbage  and  slops  are  deposited  in  the 
street.  Ventilation  is  principally  by  doors  and  windows,  generally  poor 
and  inadequate.  The  apartments  are  heated  by  stoves,  which  are  often  left 
with  the  covers  off,  and  emit  large  quantities  of  gas.  But  few  of  the  cel- 
lars are  occupied  in  the  district,  but  in  those  few  the  occupants  have  suf- 
fered from  rheumatism  aud  ophthalmia,  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  and  typhoid 
fever.  They  are  dark,  damp,  close,  and  offensive.  There  are  a  few  ex- 
ceptions to  this  rule,  as  follows : — One  in  the  rear  of  No.  9  Carmine 
Street,  a  four-story  house,  with  large  airy  rooms,  plenty  of  light,  good  ven- 
tilation, a  large  court  in  front,  and  a  fire  escape.  The  whole  building, 
court,  and  passages  are  kept  clean  and  in  good  order.  A  second  is  on  the 
corner  of  Houston  and  Greenwich  Streets  ;  this  is  a  large  house,  covering 
three  lots.  The  material  of  which  the  tenant-houses  are  built  is  as  fol- 
lows : — 143  are  of  brick,  and  42  of  wood. 

Liquor  Stores. — There  are  81  liquor  stores,  groceries  with  bars 
attached,  saloons,  &c,  in  this  district.  A  few  are  kept  in  good  order, 
and  are  quiet ;  but  by  far  the  larger  number  are  small,  dark  sinks  of  vice 
and  iniquity.  In  Greenwich,  Washington,  and  West  Streets  are  found 
the  examples  of  this  latter  class  in  full  perfection. 

Stores. — There  are  476  buildings  for  stores  of  different  kinds.  The 
small  groceries  rank  first  in  insalubrity  ;  the  majority  of  them  are  filled 
or  surrounded  with  decaying  vegetables  or  fruits,  which  are  thrown  out 
into  the  gutters  or  packed  in  between  barrels  and  boxes,  and  there  lie  in 
sunshine  or  rain  to  rot.  The  probability  is  that  many  of  our  cases  of 
diarrhoea  and  dysentery,  with  their  consequences,  may  be  traced  to  this 
cause. 

Factories. — For  the  manufacture  of  pianofortes,  carriages,  furniture, 
castings,  guns,  muskets,  &c,  &c,  there  are  63  factories. 

Slaugiiter-iiouses,   &c,   &c. — There  are  4  slaughter-houses,  2 
livery  stables,  and  160  private  stables.    The  slaughter-houses  are  all 
kept  in  good  order,  the  offal  is  carried  away,  and  the  gutters  cleaned  im 
mediately,  and  there  is  no  complaint  made  by  the  neighbors. 

Staules. — These  structures  arc  built  of  brick  and  wood  ;  the  latter 


72 


REPORT  OF  THE  FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


are  mostly  iu  a  dilapidated,  tumble-down  condition,  and  very  filthy. 
Many  of  those  built  of  brick  are  kept  clean. 

Churches,  &c,  &c. — There  are  8  churches,  1  dispensary,  2  banks, 
1  asylum  or  home,  and  2  public  schools. 

Piers,  Docks,  &c. — The.  piers,  4  in  number,  are  in  very  fair  condition  ; 
the  basins  need  dredging,  for  at  low  water  they  are  nearly  bare,  and  in 
warm  weather  emit  a  most  intolerable  stench  from  the  reeking  slime,  the 
dead  animals,  entrails,  &c,  which  collect  in  them,  and  undergo  putrefac- 
tion during  the  summer. 

Disease. — The  prevailing  diseases  during  the  past  season  have  been 
typhoid  fever,  dysentery,  diarrhoea,  scarlet  fever,  measles,  and  a  few  cases 
of  variola.  There  are  many  insalubrious  quarters  where  the  prevalence 
of  pestilential  diseases  was  to  have  been  anticipated,  but  the  season  passed 
without  their  appearance  to  any  great  extent. 

Statistical  Recapitulation  of  Buildings  {5th  District). 
Total  number  of  dwelling-houses  in  the  district,  1,331. 
One  hundred  and  eighty-five  tenant-houses,  of  which  42  are  wood, 
143  brick. 

Four  hundred  and  seventy-six  stores. 
Eighty-one  rum  shops 

There  are  one  hundred  and  sixty  stables  and  two  livery. 
Four  slaughter-houses,  one  on  Jay  Street,  one  on  Cornelia  Street,  twe 
on  Barrow  Street. 
Eight  churches. 
Two  public  schools. 
One  Dispensary  (Northern). 
One  Home  (St.  Luke's). 
Two  banks. 
One  insurance  office. 
Sixty-three  factories. 
Twelve  markets. 

One  hundred  and  twenty-five  rear  houses. 

One  hundred  and  fifty-seven  wooden  houses. 

Fourteen  hundred  and  seventeen  brick  houses. 

The  total  number  of  buildings  of  all  descriptions,  1,574. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

SIXTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


WILLIAM  F.   THOMS,  M.D. 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — North  by  Walker  and  Canal  Streets,  east  by  the  Bow- 
ery, south  by  Chatham  Street  and  Park  Bow,  west  by  Broadway.  TJiis 
district  comprises  the  Sixth  Ward. 


STATISTICS  OF  DISTRICT. 


Whole  nnmber 
of  buildings. 

Dwellings. 

1 

Liquor  Stores. 

Brothels. 

Stores. 

O 

o 

1 

a 
1 

<0 

□ 

3 

6 

Public  Schools. 

Dispensary. 

P 

I 

Asylums. 

Prison. 

Eailroad  Depot. 

Parks. 

Vacant  Lots. 

1380 

182 

43 

40G 

29 

528 

in 

6 

3 

1 

1 

4 

1 

1 

2 

8 

STATISTICS  OF  TENANT-HOUSES 

BASEMENTS, 

AND 

CELLARS. 

Tenant-houses. 

Bear  Tenant-houses. 

Number  of  Tenements  without  Fire- 
escape. 

Number  of  Tenant-houses  not  connect- 
ed with  any  sewer. 

Number  of  Tenements  in  good  Sanitary 
condition. 

Number  of  Tenements  in  faulty  San- 
itary condition. 

Number  of  Families  in  Tenant-houses. 

Average  number  of  Families  to  each 
Tenant-house. 

Tenement  Population. 

Tenement  Population  with  less  than 
300  cubic  feet  of  air. 

Minimum  average  cubical  space  to  each 
person  in  a  house  on  "Worth  Street 

1  Average  age  of  Tenement  Population. 

Cellar  Population. 

Average  cubical  space  to  Cellar  Popula- 
tion. 

609 

154 

302 

302 

24 

585 

4400 

n 

23,000 

2720 

CUBIC  FEET. 

122 

YEARS- 

23 

496 

FEET. 

615 

74 


EEPORT  OF  THE  SIXTH  SAXITARY  DISTRICT. 


STATISTICS  OF  DISEASE.  [Incomplete.] 

Statistics  of  Disease  on  record  since  the  commencement  of  this  year,  18G4  (for  ten 
months),  occurring  in  streets  and  parts  of  streets  in  tJds  District.* 


STREETS. 


Typhus  Fever. 

Typhoid  Fever. 

Fever. 

Variola. 

V 

■P 

3 

Scarlatina. 

Erysipelas. 

57 

2 

35 

17 

20 

6 

G 

40 

3 

13 

3 

12 

2 

5 

16 

1 

11 

2 

3 

2 

8 

1 

1 

13 

i 

5 

'  2 

2 

3 

8 

'  i 

4 

1 

4 

6 

1 

3 

1 

'  i 

'  1 

2 

1 

l 

5 

'  i 

1 

' i 

2 

1 

3 

2 

a 

3 

i 

3 

'  i 

Mulberry  Street, 
Baxter  Street, .  , 
Park  Street,  .  .  . 
Bayard  Street,.  . 
Pearl  Street,  .  .  , 
Leonard  Street, , 
Mott  Street,  .  .  . 
Elm  Street, 
Worth  Street,  .  . 
Franklin  Street,. 
Canal  Street, .  .  . 
Centre  Street,  .  , 
Mission  Place,.  . 
Doyer  Street,.  .  . 


STATISTICS  OF  MORTALITY. 


AUGUST. 

143 


JUNE. 

53 


1054 


AUGUST. 

129 


NOV. 

G8 


928 


AUGUST. 

12G 


JUNE. 

Gl 


1 1 1  I 


AUGUST. 

177 


Statistics  of  the  Ratio  of  Deaths  to  the  1,000  of  the  Population. 


Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  year  1800   86 

Population  to  one  death  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  year  1860   28  J 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  month  of  August,  in  the  year  1800  

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  month  of  June,  in  the  year  1800   2 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  year  1861   40 

Population  to  one  death  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  year  18G1   28  J 


*  From  the  New  York  Dispensary  and  the  Ucllcvuc  Hospital  Records.  Thi*  is  but. 
a  small  percentage  of  the  total  number  of  cases  of  these  diseases  in  this  district 


STATISTICS  OF  MORTALITY. — MEDICAL  TOPOGRAPHY.  75 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  month  of  August,  in  the  year  1861   5 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  month  of  November,  in  the  year  1861   2£ 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  year  1862   36 

Population  to  one  death  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  year  1862   28£ 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  month  of  August,  in  the  year  1862   4-j- 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  month  of  June,  in  the  year  1862   2-£ 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  year  1863   43 

Population  to  one  death  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  year  1863   24 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  in  the  month  of  August,  in  the  year  1863 .  6£ 


Standard  ratio  of  deaths  to  1,000  in  healthy  population   17 

Population  to  one  death,  standard   54 

Ratio  of  deaths  per  1,000  in  the  United  States   23 

Population  to  one  death  in  the  United  States   45 


Geology. — The  geology  of  the  Sixth  District  consists  mainly  of  what 
is  known  as  diluvium.  It  is  a  compound  of  houlders,  gravel,  sand,  and 
silicious  clay. 

Topography. — A  high  hill  was  graded  down  between  where  Worth 
and  Canal  Streets  now  intersect  Broadway.  Its  height  was  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  feet  above  the  present  level. 

On  this  hill,  near  where  Franklin  Street  is  located,  on  the  east  side  of 
Broadway,  stood  a  reservoir,  built  before  the  Revolution,  for  supplying 
the  city  with  water. 

Collect. — The  largest  pond  on  Manhattan  Island  was  located  upon 
that  part  of  the  city  which  is  now  included  between  Baxter  and  Elm 
Streets,  and  between  Duane  and  Canal  Streets,  in  the  middle  of  which 
section  Centre  Street  now  passes. 

The  Halls  of  Justice,  a  prison  of  Egyptian  architecture,  vulgarly 
called  the  "  Tombs,"  stands  near  what  was  once  the  middle  of  the  Collect. 
The  place  and  appearance  of  this  pond  are  still  in  the  memory  of  some 
venerable  citizens  of  New  York.  Its  peculiar  topographical  features,  the 
high  hill  rising  abruptly  from  its  sides,  the  groves  upon  its  borders,  the 
depth  and  purity  of  its  waters,  arc  things  much  spoken  of  in  the  histori- 
cal records  of  New  York. 

The  water  of  this  little  lake  was  of  great  depth  and  of  unusual  purity. 
One  of  its  principal  fountains,  afterwards  well  known  as  the  "  Tea-water 
Spring,"  supplied  ten  or  twelve  thousand  inhabitants  with  water  for 
their  favorite  beverage. 

A  sparkling  brook  carried  off  its  water  into  the  East  River,  whilo 
towards  the  North  River  stretched  a  marsh  covering  a  large  extent  of 
land,  through  which  streamlets  from  this  pond  made  their  way. 

For  more  than  a  hundred  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  island  by 


76 


REPORT  OF  THE  SIXTII  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Europeans,  fish  were  abundant  in  this  pond,  and  were  caught  by  nets 
during  all  that  period.  Several  plans  were  presented  for  the  permanent 
reflation  of  the  locality.  Among  others  was  one  proposition  to  make  a 
dock,  or  basin,  in  the  deep  water  of  the  Collect,  as  a  harbor  for  shipping, 
and  to  communicate  with  both  the  North  and  East  Rivers,  by  means  of  a 
canal  forty  feet  in  width.  It  was  concluded,  however,  not  to  construct  a 
basin,  but  to  fill  in  the  Collect,  the  question  of  a  canal  being  still  left  un- 
settled. 

About  the  year  1800  the  work  of  filling  in  the  Collect  was  commenced, 
and  continued  about  ten  years.  The  long  time  occupied  in  this  labor  oc- 
casioned a  serious  inconvenience  to  the  neighborhood ;  and  the  pond,  in 
place  of  its  originally  beautiful  appearance,  became  a  nuisance.  Dead 
animals,  together  with  every  species  of  rubbish  and  offal,  were  thrown  into 
it,  and  occasioned  an  insufferable  stench.    This,  however,  was  remedied. 

At  the  great  undertaking  of  filling  up  this  pond,  a  curious  fact  occurred. 
The  specific  gravity  of  the  sand  and  gravel  of  the  lull  was  so  much 
greater  than  that  of  the  mud  and  sediment  of  the  pond,  that  in  gravitating  to 
the  hard  bottom  it  pushed  up  in  its  centre  several  islands  of  this  sediment, 
which  were  raised  some  8  or  10  feet  above  the  level  of  the  water ;  and 
this  becoming  dry  and  cracked  open,  salt  was  discovered  to  be  present  in 
great  abundance.  The  pond  was  drained  by  a  canal  which  extended  down 
Canal  Street,  and  entered  the  North  River  at  the  foot  of  that  street.  The 
old  stone  bridge  on  Broadway  passed  over  this  canal.  For  a  number  of 
years  a  ditch  ran  through  Centre  Street,  but  this  also  was  filled  up,  and 
all  traces  of  the  Collect  were  obliterated. 

Streets. — The  streets  parallel  with  the  long  axis  of  the  island  are 
variously  from  36  to  GO  feet  in  width.  The  streets  intersecting  these  are 
narrower,  and  in  a  equally  bad  sanitary  condition.  Most  of  them  are 
paved  with  cobble  stone,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  are  in  a  very  filthy 
condition  summer  and  winter  ;  domestic  garbage  and  filth  of  every  kind 
being  thrown  into  the  streets,  covering  their  surface,  filling  the  gutters, 
obstructing  the  sewer  culverts,  and  sending  forth  perennial  emanations 
which  must  generate  pestiferous  diseases. 

Oarhagc. — In  winter  the  filth  and  garbage,  etc.,  accumulate  in  tho 
streets,  to  the  depth  sometimes  of  two  or  three  feet.  The  garbage  boxes 
arc  a  perpetual  source  of  nuisance  in  the  streets,  filth  and  offal  being 
thrown  all  around  them,  pools  of  filthy  water  in  many  instances  remain- 
ing in  the  gutters,  and  having  their  source  in  tho  garbage  boxes. 

The  streets  have  been  cleaned  occasionally  this  summer  ;  but  unless  a 
system  is  adopted  whereby  tho  inhabitants  will  be  prevented  from 
throwing  filth  and  garbage  into  the  streets,  cleanliness  is  impossible. 


THE  INHABITANTS  AND  THEIR  HOMES.  77 

Sewerage. — The  streets  of  this  district  are  generally  sewered,  but 
most  of  the  sewers  are  faulty  in  construction. 

The  outlet  to  those  in  the  upper  part  of  the  district  is  through  the  Canal 
Street  sewer,  which  empties  into  the  North  River  at  the  foot  of  that  street. 
The  mouth  of  the  sewer  is  uncovered  at  low  water.  The  outlet  to  those 
in  the  lower  and  Chatham  Street  side  of  the  district,  is  through  the 
Roosevelt  Street  sewer,  the  mouth  of  which  is  also  uncovered  at  low  water. 
The  culverts  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  are  often  choked  up  on  account 
of  the  large  amount  of  filth  and  garbage  thrown  into  the  gutters,  and 
which  is  carried  down  into  the  sewers.  The  culvert  at  the  corner  of 
Bayard  and  Baxter  Streets  is  frequently  in  this  condition,  and  the  accu- 
mulated filthy  water  is  sometimes  allowed  to  stand  several  days  before  an 
outlet  is  cleared  for  it.  Typhus  fever,  diarrhoea,  and  cholera  infantum 
are  the  constantly-prevailing  diseases  in  this  pestilential  locality. 

The  Squares. — There  are  43  squares,  14  of  which  are  tolerably 
good,  15  in  a  very  bad,  and  14  in  a  mixed  and  faulty  sanitary  condition. 
7  of  them  are  parts  of  squares,  6  of  them  triangles,  covered  with  solid 
blocks.  The  "  Tombs  "  and  the  New  Haven  Railroad  Depot  each  oc- 
cupy a  square  between  Centre  and  Ehn  Streets. 

Inhabitants. — Two-thirds  of  the  population  is  composed  of  the  lowest 
grades  of  the  laboring  poor,  and  of  vicious  classes  ;  the  remaining  third 
is  made  up  of  better  classes  of  people  who  live  upon  wages.  This  dis- 
trict has  the  most  exclusively  foreign  population  of  any  portion  of  the 
city,  the  American  population  being  estimated  at  less  than  five  per  cent,  of 
the  whole.  The  Irish  constitute  seventy-four  per  cent.  The  remaining 
twenty-six  per  cent,  is  made  up  mainly  of  German  Jews,  Italians,  etc. 
The  German  Jews  devote  themselves  to  their  favorite  occupation  of  old 
clothing,  and  seem  to  have  made  Baxter  Street  then-  headquarters.  Many 
of  the  Irish  keep  junk  shops,  liquor  stores,  groceries,  etc.,  etc.  The 
Italians  are  ragpickers,  organ  grinders,  etc.,  etc. 

Tenant-Hoeses. — Many  of  the  tenant-houses  are  located  over  what 
was  once  the  "  Collect ;  "  two-thirds  of  them  are  very  old  wooden  struc- 
tures. Some  are  quite  small,  containing  from  4  to  8  families  in  as  many 
rooms  ;  others  comparatively  large,  containing  from  12  to  15  families. 
This  class  of  houses  is  occupied  by  the  lowest  grade  of  inhabitants  ;  many 
of  them  are  used  as  lodging-houses,  and  as  many  as  thirty  persons  are 
sometimes  packed  into  one  small  room.  There  is  one  house  of  this  char- 
acter in  Baxter  Street,  from  which  a  very  large  number  of  patients  has 
been  sent  to  the  fever  hospital,  and  among  which  the  mortality  is  very 
great.  About  a  third  of  the  number  of  buildings  consist  of  the  better 
class  of  brick  tenant-houses,  and  contain  from  10  to  50  families  each. 


78 


REPORT  OF  TIIE  SIXTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


The  pro  rata  of  ground-area  to  each  occupant,  in  many  instances,  is 
less  than  15  square  feet,  and  the  cubical  space  in  the  apartments  to  each 
occupant  is  less  than  300  feet ;  and  one-half  of  the  tenant-house  popula- 
tion have  less  than  500  cubic  feet  of  air  to  each  person.* 

The  external  and  internal  ventilation,  in  many  instances,  is  very  im- 
perfect, front  and  rear  buildings  being  within  8  or  10  feet  of  each  other. 
Stores,  schools,  and  churches  are  built  the  whole  length  of  the  lot,  ob- 
structing the  circulation  of  air  between  rows  of  front  and  rear  houses ; 
tenant-houses  surround  entirely,  or  very  nearly,  small  courts  ;  and  in  many 
instances  the  rear  buildings  of  the  blocks  upon  parallel  streets  are  built 
closely  back-to-back,  thereby  utterly  excluding  external  ventilation. 


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E. 

HAND  ALL  OCL. 


A  SIXTH  WARD  FEVER-NEST. 


STATISTICS  OF  MORTALITY. 


Number  of  persons. 

Number  of  families. 

Number  of  deaths. 

Rate  of  deaths  per 
1000  persons. 

Ratio  of  deaths. 

Ratio  of  sickness. 

■ 

i 

Pi 

o 
U 

§3 
K 

Ratio  of  deaths  of] 
children  under  10 
years  of  a^-j. 

Number  of  children 
who  have  died 
during  the  year 
under  10  years. 

Number  of  children 
under  ten  years 
of  age. 

Cubic  feet  of  air  to 
each  person. 

849 

74 

18 

m  In 
1000 

1  In 
19J 

1  In 

115 

llnO 

0 

54 

About  350  by  day 
and  2  >0  by  night. 

•  The  abovo  wood-cut  presents  a  sectional  view  of  a  fevcr-nest,  as  Dr.  Ilarris  terms 
such  generators  and  hot-beds  of  typhus.  Fifteen  persons  sick  with  typhus  have 
been  conveyed  to  hospital  and  elsewhere  during  the  year.  Lack  of  ventilation  is  tho  es- 
sential fault  of  the  house  and  its  seventy  domiciles.    Few  of  tho  bed-rooms  have  any 


HOT-BEDS  OF  TYPHUS. 


79 


PLAN  Or  THIRD  FLOOR. 


RANDALL  DEL.  PEABL  ^  STREXT. 

PLAN  Or  riRST  FLOOR. 


A  SIXTH  "WARD  FEVER-NEST. 

ventilation  whatsoever,  and  nearly  half  of  the  other  apartments  look  out  exclusively  upon 
dismal  and  foetid  well-hole  areas  that  arc  lined  by  the  privies  where  three  hundred  and 
fifty  persons  attend  the  calls  of  nature.  Preceding  this  note  is  a  statistical  statement 
which  was  taken  the  day  of  my  last  inspection  of  the  place. 


80 


REPORT  OF  THE  SIXTH  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


Internal  ventilation  is  also  very  imperfect,  sleeping  rooms  in  many  in- 
stances having  no  means  of  supplying  air  except  through  the  narrow  door 
which  connects  with  living-rooms  ;  they  are  also  dark,  and,  in  some  in- 
stances, very  damp. 

House  drainage  is  generally  imperfect,  the  court-yards  being  in  many 
instances  below  the  level  of  the  streets.  The  facilities  for  disposing  of 
house-slops  and  garbage  are  very  imperfect,  and  everything  is  thrown  into 
the  street  and  gutters  at  all  times  of  the  day. 

One-fourth  of  the  number  of  buildings  consists  of  rear  tenant-houses, 
and  these  are  generally  in  a  much  worse  condition  than  the  front  houses. 

Water-Closets. — The  water-closets  are  located  between  the  front 
and  rear  houses,  many  of  them  covered  and  surrounded  with  filth,  so  as 
not  to  be  approachable  ;  others  so  much  out  of  repair  as  to  endanger  the 
life  of  those  frequenting  them. 

Some  of  them  are  merely  trenches  sunken  one  or  two  feet  in  the 
ground,  the  fluids  of  which  are  in  some  instances  allowed  to  run  into  the 
courts,  stones  and  boards  being  sometimes  provided  to  keep  the  feet  out 
of  the  filth.  One-half  of  the  tenant-houses  have  no  sewers  connected 
with  them ;  consequently  the  stench  from  all  of  the  water-closets,  during 
the  summer,  is  absolutely  unbearable  and  perilous. 

Fike  Escapes. — Means  of  escape  from  fire  are  very  imperfect,  only 
one-half  of  the  tenant-houses  being  provided  with  any  such  means  of 
security  from  the  fearful  perils  and  dreadful  fate  that  have  too  frequently 
befallen  crowded  tenant-houses. 

Tenant-House  Population. — The  most  accurate  returns  for  this 
year,  1864,  show  that  the  tenement  population  amounts  to  23,000  in  this 
district.  The  average  age  of  this  class  of  inhabitants  is  found  to  be  about 
23  years.  There  are  4,400  families,  being  an  average  of  1 7£  to  each 
tenant-house. 

Cellars  and  Basements. — There  has  been  some  improvement  in 
this  respect  within  the  last  few  years,  the  cellar  population  having  per- 
ceptibly decreased,  yet  496  persons  still  live  in  damp  and  unwholesome 
quarters  under  ground.  In  some  of  them  water  was  discovered  trickling 
down  the  walls,  the  source  of  which  was  sometimes  traced  to  the  courts 
and  alleys,  and  sometimes  to  the  soakagc  from  the  water-closets.  The  nox- 
ious effluvia  always  present  in  these  basemcntsarc  of  a  sickening  character. 

Many  of  the  cellars  arc  occupied  by  2  or  3  families,  a  number  are 
also  occupied  as  lodging-houses,  accommodating  from  20  to  30  lodgers. 
One  near  the  corner  of  Elm  and  Worth  Street,  is  now  15  or  16  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  street.  (The  street  having  been  raised  10  feet.) 
The  lodging-house  keeper  complained  to  the  Inspector  that  her  business 


PROSTITUTION. — MEDICAL  CHARITIES. 


81 


has  fallen  off  some  since  the  street  was  raised.  As  might  be  expected  the 
sickness  rate  is  very  high  ;  rheumatic  disease,  fevers,  strumous  diseases, 
cholera  infantum,  &c,  &c,  running  riot  among  the  population.  Indeed, 
in  nearly  every  basement  disease  of  some  kind  has  been  found  peculiarly 
prevalent  and  fatal. 

Dram-Shops. — 406  drinking  shops  exist  in  my  inspection  district. 
They  are  of  the  worst  class,  producing  an  immense  amount  of  alcoholic 
disease,  which  in  very  many  instances  proves  fatal.  The  social  evils  and 
personal  suffering  resulting  from  the  same  cause  are  everywhere  wit- 
nessed in  this  district. 

Brothels. — There  are  29  brothels.  They  are  the  source  of  much 
sickness  and  death,  the  inmates  being  of  the  lowest  class.  Those  in 
tenant-houses  have  not  been  enumerated  in  this  estimation  of  the  number 
of  brothels.  Prostitution  has  long  been  the  most  open  and  shameless 
of  vices  in  the  Sixth  Ward. 

Stores. — 528  stores,  drug  shops,  groceries,  and  markets,  are  found  in 
my  district. 

Factories. — There  are  117  factories,  consisting  of  type,  lead  pipe, 
shot,  iron,  sugar  and  confectionery,  brass,  pewter,  box,  stoves,  pianoforte, 
&c,  &c,  in  a  fair  sanitary  condition. 

Stables. — There  are  43  stables,  which,  owing  to  their  location,  are 
prolific  sources  of  disease  ;  some  are  located  in  the  basement  of  tenant- 
houses,  causing  them  to  become  fever-nests  ;  others  are  situated  between 
the  front  and  rear  of  tenant-houses.  The  manure  heaps  connected  with 
these  stables  are  generally  in  a  neglected  condition. 

Churches — There  are  6  churches.  One  of  them  obstructs  the  ex- 
ternal ventilation  of  the  tenant-houses  on  City  Hall  Place.  These  church 
edifices  are  badly  ventilated. 

Schools. — There  are  3  public  schools.  One  is  in  a  very  faulty 
sanitary  condition,  GOO  children  being  crowded  on  one  floor  that  is  very 
imperfectly  lighted  and  unfit  for  the  purpose.  No  playground  is  provided. 
The  other  schools  arc  surrounded  by  tenant-houses ;  one  of  them  inter- 
feres with  the  external  ventilation  of  a  large  number  of  high  tenant-houses 
in  the  neighborhood  ;  4  other  schools  exist,  which  come  under  the  head 
Charitable  Institutions. 

Dispensaries  and  Charities. — The  New  York  Dispensary,  the 
oldest  and  most  important  medical  institution  of  the  kind  in  America,  is 
located  in  this  district,  on  the  corner  of  Centre  and  White  Streets. 
Nearly  fifty  thousand  sick  poor  are  annually  treated  in  this  noble  institu- 
tion, and,  like  the  other  dispensailes  of  the  city,  it  furnishes  the  benefits 
of  vaccination  gratuitously  to  thousands  of  persons  every  year.  There 
6 


82 


REPORT  OF  THE  SIXTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


are  four  other  charitable  institutions  in  the  district.  They  are  devoted 
to  the  care  of  poor  children  ;  these  institutions  are  in  good  sanitary  con- 
dition. In  two  of  them  much  sickness  has  prevailed  from  time  to  time, 
occurring  every  one  or  two  years  ;  they  are  located  on  the  spot  that  was 
once  the  "  Collect,"  and  are  in  close  proximity  to  the  great  fever-nests  and 
most  insalubrious  quarters  of  the  city. 

The  "  Tombs." — This  famous  penal  institution  is  located  on  made 
ground,  over  what  was  once  the  centre  of  the  Collect ;  it  is  in  good  sani- 
tary condition.  Between  41,000  and  42,000  persons  pass  through  it  to 
the  various  public  institutions  in  the  course  of  a  year. 

Burying  Grounds  and  Vacant  Lots. — A  negro  burying  ground 
formerly  existed  between  Duane  and  Worth  Streets  ;  it  is  now  40  feet  be- 
low the  level  of  the  street.  There  are  eight  vacant  lots  occupied  as  coal 
yards,  storage  for  lumber,  &c,  &c,  in  fair  sanitary  condition. 

Prevailing  Diseases. — The  following  list  and  number  of  cases  of 
severe  sickness  in  this  small  district  have  been  treated  from  the  New  York 
Dispensary  or  sent  to  hospital :  253  cases  of  fever,  29  cases  of  small-pox, 
and  48  cases  of  measles.  These  were  all  charity  patients,  and  they  indi- 
cate the  prevailing  diseases  of  the  locality. 

A  large  number  of  insalubrious  quarters  exist  in  this  district,  and  in 
them  the  constant-sickness  rate  is  large.  During  the  summer  months 
much  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  and  cholera  infantum  prevailed,  but  I  have 
not  had  time  to  glean  statements  and  collect  statistics. 

Purulent  ophthalmia  continually  exists  in  this  district ;  in  a  tenant- 
liouse  on  Leonard  Street  the  Inspector  has  seen  17  cases  recently.  Sev- 
eral cases  of  typhus  have  occurred  in  the  houses  on  Mission  Place,  the 
origin  of  which  could  be  traced  to  recent  immigrants. 

The  increase  in  the  number  of  deaths  for  1863  can  be  accounted  for  in 
two  ways  :  First.  By  an  increase  in  the  number  of  febrile  diseases  oc- 
curring during  that  year.  Second.  By  an  increase  in  the  number  of  the 
very  lowest  class  of  people  who  have  come  to  reside  in  this  ward  from 
other  wards  ;  the  more  respectable  of  this  low  class  having  removed  out 
of  this  district.  The  mortality  among  children  is  fearfully  high,  many 
families  having  lost  all  of  their  children  ;  others  4  out  of  5  or  6.  The  pro- 
portion of  still-births,  also,  is  almost  unparalleled. 

Remedial  Measures. — The  sewerage  of  my  district  needs  to  bo  greatly 
improved.  The  accumulation  of  sewage,  the  return  flow  of  sewer  gases, 
and  the  obstruction  of  house-drains  and  local  sewers,  must  be  provided 
against ;  the  culverts,  the  gutters,  and  the  pavements  require  vigilant  and 
wkilful  care,  and  all  sources  and  conditions  of  local  filth  .should  be  under 
'.he  survoillancc  of  faithful  and  fearless  sanitary  officials. 


SMALL-POX. — TYPHUS. 


83 


Popular  Education. — Some  method  should  be  adopted  to  educate 
the  people  in  sanitary  matters,  by  printed  and  other  instructions  suitable 
for  the  purpose  ;  and  I  would  suggest  that  the  assistance  of  all  the  clergy, 
the  charitable  institutions,  and  the  benevolent  ladies  of  New  York,  be 
sought  to  aid  in  teaching  the  unfortunate  inmates  of  these  abodes  of  pov- 
erty, the  duties  of  life,  by  a  system  of  domiciliary  visitation,  and  advice  in 
regard  to  their  domestic  welfare  and  sanitary  condition.  This  system  has 
been  carried  out  in  the  poor  districts  of  London  with  great  success,  and 
is  one  reason  why  the  mortality  in  that  great  city  is  less  than  in  the  gen- 
eral average  of  country  towns  in  England. 

Tenant-Houses. — A  law  should  be  enacted  to  regulate  the  construc- 
tion, and  external  and  internal  ventilation  of  these  buildings  :  an  Inspec- 
tor being  appointed  to  regulate  this  matter  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  un- 
safe buildings. 

Those  already  constructed  to  be  put  in  the  best  sanitary  condition,  by 
arranging  ventilators  and  skylights  over  the  stairways  on  the  roof,  mak- 
ing tin  or  iron  flues  connecting  with  every  sleeping-room  ;  the  flues  ex- 
tending from  the  basement  to  the  roof  of  the  house.  This  improvement 
could  be  easily  made  without  much  expense. 

Dram-Shops. — As  no  law  can  stop  the  sale  of  liquor,  a  law  should  be 
enacted  to  regulate  it.  Any  liquor-dealer  selling  or  giving  liquor  to  a 
person  partially  under  its  influence  should  be  fined. 

Institutions  should  be  provided  for  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  using 
it  to  excess  ;  and  all  who  are  in  this  condition,  no  matter  wh?+  their  posi- 
tion, when  found  in  the  streets  should  be  sent  to  them,  and  if  necessary 
retained  there. 

Brothels. — As  no  law  can  prevent  them,  laws  should  be  enacted  to 
control  them,  by  imposing  a  fine,  when  disease  is  found  among  them. 
This  would  prevent  one-half  of  the  diseases  arising  therefrom. 

Small-Pox. — This  disease,  as  we  all  know,  can  be  almost  entirely  pre- 
vented by  vaccination.  Nearly  all  the  cases  that  now  occur  are  among 
young  children  who  have  not  been  vaccinated  on  account  of  the  ignorance, 
superstition,  or  neglect  of  the  parents. 

Ttphus. — This  disease  can  be  controlled,  if  not  entirely  eradicated,  by 
proper  sanitary  measures.  The  filthy  streets,  courts,  alleys,  water-closets, 
and  cesspools,  should  be  cleaned,  and  the  filth  removed,  sunken  courts 
filled  up,  obstructed  external  ventilation  also  removed,  internal  ventilation 
improved  by  flues  in  every  sleeping-room,  ventilators  and  skylights  to  be 
placed  over  the  stairways  in  every  house.  And  to  stop  the  progress  or 
annihilate  the  virus  of  typhus  in  the  tenant-houses  of  the  city,  there  must 
be  some  limitation  to  the  crowding  and  packing  of  given  areas,  and 


84 


REPORT  OF  THE  SIXTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


domiciliary  apartments  must  be  in  some  way  limited  by  sanitary  regula- 
tions. 

Epidemics  and  Local  Causes. — Tbe  seeds  of  disease  exist  every- 
where in  the  Sixth  District ;  and  although  removable  and  susceptible  of 
sanitary  control,  they  are  yet  uncontrolled,  and  at  any  time  may  spring 
into  activity  and  a  terrific  life  that  shall  only  have  the  power  and  effect 
of  death.  Cholera,  when  it  visits  these  shores  again,  will  first  break  forth 
here  if  proper  sanitary  measures  he  neglected.  The  first  appearance  of  chol- 
era in  the  great  epidemic  of  1849,  in  this  city,  was  in  the  houses  Nos.  21 
and  23  Baxter  Street ;  it  then  spread  to  Nos.  8  and  10  Mulberry  Street, 
and  from  thence  to  all  parts  of  the  city. 

Typhus  fever-nests  exist  in  all  parts  of  this  district ;  and  it  has  been 
traced  from  these  nests  to  every  ward  in  the  city,  spreading  the  disease 
not  only  in  the  worst  localities,  but  into  the  homes  of  the  industrious,  the 
wealthy,  and  the  highest  classes  of  society.  This  disease  is  now  on  the 
increase,  and  if  proper  sanitary  measures  are  not  adopted  to  remove  the 
predisposing  and  the  infecting  causes,  we  may  again  have  an  epidemic  of 
that  scourge. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

SEVENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


P.    NOLAN,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — This  district  is  hounded  on  the  north  by  Houston  Street, 
west  by  Broadway,  south  by  Canal  and  Wallcer  Streets,  and  on  the  east  by 
the  Bowery.    It  comprises  the  Fourteenth  Ward. 

Topography. — The  Fourteenth  Ward  has  its  principal  descent  south- 
ward toward  Canal  Street,  with  a  considerable  elevation  at  its  southeast- 
ern section.    It  is  all  original  ground  of  a  clay  and  gravel  composition. 

The  streets  are  nearly  all  sewered,  and  enter  the  mains,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  running  through  Canal  Street.  The  streets  run  north 
and  south,  east  and  west,  are  of  good  width,  and  paved — some  with  cob- 
ble stone,  others  with  Belgian  pavement — all  being  in  good  order  as 
regards  the  condition  of  the  pavement.  The  gutters  and  surface  of  the 
streets  are  generally  filthy,  and  the  odor  arising  therefrom  very  offensive, 
especially  in  those  running  north  and  south,  which  are  most  dirty. 

Squares. — There  are  43  squares  in  the  Seventh  District,  one-fourth 
of  which  are  in  a  good,  one-half  in  a  fair,  and  one-fourth  in  a  very  bad 
sanitary  condition.  The  causes  which  tend  to  this  insalubrious  condition 
are  apparent  and  numerous.  They  consist  of  slaughter-pens,  crowded 
buildings,  neglected  privies,  filthy  streets  and  gutters,  and  a  general  want 
of  domiciliary  cleanliness. 

Population. — One-half  the  inhabitants  are  of  the  lower  order,  and 
have  little  regard  for  cleanliness.  They  live  by  their  daily  labor  or  keep 
small  shops.  They  are  mostly  Irish  and  German,  the  former  nationality 
predominating. 

Buildings. — About  one-half  of  the  buildings  in  this  district  are  tene- 


86 


REPORT  OF  THE  SEVENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


ments,  many  of  these  having  stores  underneath  ;  a  small  portion  are  pri- 
vate dwellings,  and  a  considerable  number  are  manufactories  of  different 
kinds,  such  as  iron,  glass,  soap  and  candles,  sewing  machines,  carriage, 
cabinet  and  the  various  fabrics  of  wood. 

The  few  private  dwellings  in  the  ward  are  brick  houses  of  two  and  four 
stories  high,  well  built,  and  with  large  and  airy  rooms,  good  water-supply 
and  drainage,  and  lighted  with  gas.  They  are  generally  in  good  condi- 
tion. The  privies  to  these  residences  are  in  the  yards,  and  are  kept  in  a 
fair  state  of  cleanliness. 

Nearly  all  the  larger  class  of  brick  tenant-houses  are  comparatively 
new,  and  have  a  good  supply  of  water.  The  garbage  is  either  thrown 
in  boxes  on  the  sidewalk,  or,  which  is  more  common,  upon  the  pavement. 

The  water-closets  are  nearly  all  in  the  yards — but  few  being  in  the 
houses — and  connecting  with  the  sewers.  The  greater  number  of  these 
privies  are  in  a  filthy  condition,  being  but  seldom  emptied.  Many  of 
those  which  communicate  with  the  sewers  are  choked  up  by  all  sorts  of 
offal  being  thrown  into  them,  thereby  producing  a  very  bad  condition. 
As  a  general  rule  each  family  has  a  room  and  one  or  two  small  bed- 
rooms, the  size  of  which  diminish  from  the  lower  floors  upward.  The 
lower  rooms  are  usually  from  10x12,  to  12x15,  and  12  X  18  feet,  the 
latter  being  considered  a  large  room.  The  upper  rooms  are  often  as 
small  as  8x12  feet,  and  the  dormitories  but  6x10  feet  square.  The 
bedrooms  are  usually  only  large  enough  to  hold  an  ordinary-sized  bed 
aud  one  or  two  chairs. 

The  old  wooden  houses  have  more  space,  but  they  are  mofc  filthy. 
They  are  the  dilapidated  private  residences  of  an  earlier  generation. 
The  present  occupants  are  poor  and  ignorant,  with  fixed  habits  of  unclean- 
liness. 

There  are  at  least  260  liquor  shops  and  drinking  saloons  in  the  ward. 

The  number  of  houses  of  prostitution  may  be  estimated  at  40. 

One-half  of  the  buildings  in  the  district  have  stores  and  little  shops  of 
various  kinds  in  them.  There  are  eight  drug  stores,  and  one  market,  viz. : 
"  Centre  Market." 

Slaughter-Houses. — There  are  six  large  slaughter  establishments  in 
the  ward,  all  of  which  arc  necessarily  very  filthy,  and,  of  course,  inju- 
rious to  the  public  health,  owing  to  the  large  collections  of  offal  which  is 
allowed  to  accumulate  before  its  removal,  and  which  is  constantly  under- 
going decomposition  ;  also  the  continued  flow  of  blood,  washings,  urine 
and  faecal  matters  into  the  gutters,  commingling  with  the  refuse  of  the 
streets,  have  a  most  deleterious  effect  on  the  atmosphere. 

Fat-Boiling,  &c. — There  arc  3  very  large  fat-boiling  establishments 


FAT-MELTING  AND  HIDE-CURING  IN  CROWDED  SQUARES.  S7 


in  the  ward,  and  a  small  or  private  one.  The  contamination  of  the  at- 
mosphere from  this  cause  alone  is  very  great,  as  the  emanations  are  per- 
ceptible at  a  great  distance  in  every  direction.  The  slaughter  and  the 
fat-boiling  establishments  are  in  close  proximity  to  one  of  the  largest 
business  thoroughfares  in  the  city,  viz. :  the  Bowery  ;  and  not  only  have 
a  very  unhealthy  influence  on  the  residents  of  that  neighborhood,  but  are 
injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  business  community. 

These  establishments  have  often  been  complained  of,  and  have  been 
closed  by  the  city  authorities  ;  but,  by  some  influence,  that  can  "  easily  be 
explained,"  have  been  permitted  to  resume  their  disgusting  business  in 
the  heart  of  the  city.  The  greater  part  of  four  or  five  squares  are  at 
present  occupied  by  these  establishments,  their  stables,  &c. 

The  accompanying  wood-cut  presents  an  outline  chart  of  the  worst 
section  of  my  inspection  district  here  menti.oned.  Here  are  exhibited 
the  localities  of  the  butcheries,  the  hide-curing  and  the  fat-boiling  estab- 
lishments, in  the  midst  of  a  very  dense  population,  and  upon  the  very 
border  of  the  most  important  and  crowded  line  of  retail  stores  and  shops 
in  the  city.  The  different  classes  of  buildings  are  indicated  by  symbols,* 
and  the  offensive  establishments  are  properly  designated.  The  total  pop- 
ulation of  the  tenant-houses  in  these  four  squares,  according  to  a  census 
just  completed  by  Captain  Lord,  of  the  Metropolitan  Police,  is  4,168, 
while  the  total  population,  including  all  classes,  is  about  5,000.  But  the 
number  of  people  who  are  daily  exposed  to  the  foul  emanations  from  the 
nuisances  of  these  four  squares  is  many  times  greater  than  that  of  these 
residents.  The  tens  of  thousands  who  traverse  the  Bowery  or  visit  the 
stores  of  this  region,  justly  complain  of  these  offensive  spots.  It  will  be 
observed,  also,  that  a  large  public  school,  with  its  thousand  children,  is 
brought  so  closely  in  contact  with  one  of  the  fat-melting  houses,  on  one 
hand,  and  with  a  butchery  on  the  other,  that  no  space  is  left  for  external 
ventilation  and  a  playground.  Broadway  itself,  and  at  least  three  of  its 
great  hotels,  are  frequently  visited  by  oppressive  and  noxious  vapors  and 
smoke  that  are  wafted  from  these  offensive  quarters,  and  over  the  three 
or  four  asylums  and  other  public  institutions  that  intervene. 

It  is  of  the  first  importance  that  these  great  public  nuisances  be  re- 
moved to  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  In  such  locality  their  business  would 
be  facilitated,  the  commercial  interests  of  the  city  would  be  subserved,  and 
the  health  of  the  inhabitants  would  no  longer  be  jeopardized.  One  most 
dangerous  practice  would  certainly  cease,  viz. :  that  of  driving  thirsty, 
frightened,  and  furious  cattle  through  the  crowded  streets  of  our  city. 

There  are  three  or  four  large  livery  stables,  and  a  large  number  of 
•  For  explanation  of  the  symbols  sec  page  31. 


PREVALENT  DISEASES. 


89 


private  ones,  in  this  district.  These  buildings  are  almost  uniformly  in 
an  uncleanly  condition,  giving  rise  to  emanations  of  gases  poisonous  to 
the  air. 

There  are  6  churches  in  the  ward,  one  of  which  is  private  and  belong- 
ing to  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  Houston  Street.  There  are  4  public 
schools,  one  being  for  colored  children.  The  Marion  Street  Lying-in 
Asylum  is  a  well-kept  charity,  but  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  dense,  poor 
population,  where  typhus  has  been  very  prevalent  during  the  past  sum- 
mer. I  have  not  been  able  to  trace  any  unfavorable  influence  upon  tbe 
health  of  the  inmates  from  the  immediate  presence  of  this  disease. 

Diseases. — The  diseases  mo,st  prevalent  in  this  district  during  the  last 
year  are  typhoid  and  typhus  fevers.  During  the  last  three  months 
small-pox  has  appeared  with  great  violence,  all  over  the  ward.  There  is 
one  particular  locality  which  has  contributed  to  the  spread  and  intensity 
of  the  fever  contagion,  viz. :  the  little  street  known  as  Jersey  Street.  It 
is  a  short  and  narrow  lane,  running  from  Crosby  to  Mulberry  Streets, 
but  one  block  from  Broadway,  at  its  most  fashionable  portion,  thickly  in- 
habited by  the  poor,  three-fourths  of  whom  are  negroes,  and  amongst 
whom  it  first  broke  out  in  the  early  part  of  1864.  Since  that  time  40  to 
50  cases  have  occurred,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  10  or  12  have  died. 
The  disease  has  spread  throughout  the  street  and  to  houses  in  other 
streets.  The  houses  in  this  street  are  all  old ;  many  of  them  wooden, 
with  brick  fronts  and  stone  foundations.  The  street  is  always  filthy,  and 
the  effluvia  arising  therefrom  are  extremely  offensive.  The  privies  are 
generally  full  nearly  to  overflowing,  and  the  yards  are  also  in  a  dirty  con- 
dition, heaps  of  refuse  matter  being  allowed  to  remain  and  to  accumulate 
continually  in  many  of  them.  There  is  no  sewer  in  this  little  street, 
though  the  streets  at  each  end  of  it  are  sewered. 

There  have  been  attended  in  this  district  during  the  last  year, 
over  200  cases  of  typhoid  and  typhus  fever,  by  the  Dispensary  District 
Physician ;  also,  70  cases  of  dysentery,  and  50  cases  of  small-pox. 
♦  The  population  of  this  district  is  now  about  33,000  ;  and,  if  Ave  take  into 
consideration  that  one  physician  has  had  so  many  cases  of  fever  among 
the  very  poorest  of  the  people,  we  approximative^  estimate  the  amount 
of  disease  in  this  ward. 

Improvements. — There  have  been  no  improvements  made  in  this  dis- 
trict during  my  inspection.  I  have  made  but  few  complaints,  from  the 
fact  that  the  greater  number  of  nuisances  arc  permanent,  and  require  leg- 
islative action  for  their  removal. 

Remedial  Measures. — This  district  could  be  made  a  very  healthy 
part  of  the  city  by  removing  the  nuisances  before  mentioned  ;  by  keeping 


90 


EEPOET  OF  THE  SEVENTH  SANITAKY  DISTRICT. 


the  streets,  sewers,  and  privies  clean,  and  free  from  filth  and  offal  of  every 
description.  The  removal  of  all  rear  tenant-houses  is  necessary,  in  order 
to  secure  free  ventilation.  The  overcrowding  of  people  in  tenant-houses 
and  other  huildings,  as  is  the  custom  in  this  city,  is  very  injurious  ;  and 
thoroughly  effective  measures  ought  to  be  adopted  to  prevent  it.  There 
is  no  excuse  for  this  oppression  of  the  poor  by  landlords.  It  is  a  crime 
to  crowd  fifty  or  one  hundred  families  into  a  building  that  has  only  ground 
and  air-space  for  a  fraction  of  such  numbers.  The  privies  should  all  be 
made  to  communicate  with  the  sewers,  and  there  should  be  such  provisions 
and  arrangements  for  the  proper  care  of  garbage,  ashes,  house-slops,  &c, 
as  would  tend  to  insure  domestic  cleanliness  and  some  degree  of  social  re- 
finement. 


EEPOET 


OP  THE 

EIGHTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


J.  T.  KENNEDY,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — North  by  Bivington  Street,  southeast  by  Division  Street, 
east  by  Norfolk  Street,  west  by  the  Bowery. 

Topography. — I  have  ascertained  that  this  comparatively  old  part  of 
the  city  was  built  upon  ground  as  nature  moulded  it,  rolling  in  its  charac- 
ter. This,  it  will  be  observed,  is  of  great  importance,  and  fortunate  too 
was  it  that  the  hands  of  the  levellers  had  not  reduced  it  to  the  low  grade 
of  the  city,  as  illustrated  on  the  west  side  for  some  distance  above  Tenth 
Street.  The  extreme  southern  point  of  the  district  touches  the  verge  of 
the  hill  which  was  in  the  region  of  what  is  known  as  Chatham  Square,  from 
whence  a  gentle  declination  brings  us  to  Canal  Street,  where  a  dip  occurs 
terminating  at  Grand  Street,  when  again  a  gentle  rise  occurs  toward  the 
northern  boundary  at  Rivington  Street.  From  the  east,  Norfolk  Street, 
to  the  west,  the  Bowery,  there  is  sufficient  slope  to  carry  off  all  surface 
water,  &c,  as  well  as  a  considerable  descent  from  the  extreme  southeast 
point  toward  the  East  River. 

This  part  of  our  city  at  one  time  was  inhabited  by  some  of  our  most 
respected  citizens  of  moderate  ideas,  confined  to  houses  of  two  stories  in 
height ;  but  time  has  changed  the  whole  character  of  the  inhabitants.  The 
"  Teutonic  "  race  seems  to  have  rushed  in  here  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
predominate,  and  landholders  have  found  it  profitable  to  erect  very 
many  substantial  tenant-houses,  to  accommodate  the  increase  of  the 
population  ;  and  although  there  are  some  exceptions  to  this,  still  we  might 
look  for  many  more  instances  of  dilapidation  than  arc  found  here,  where 
so  much  of  the  old  city  remains.  I  find  there  is  a  good  substratum  of  sand 
underlaying  the  whole  district ;  and  the  sewerage,  as  indicated  on  the  ac- 


92 


REPORT  OF  THE  EIGHTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


companying  map  by  liues  drawn  through  the  centre  of  each  street,  is 
very  complete,  and  abundantly  sufficient  to  under-drain  aud  carry  off  any 
accumulation  of  debris.  I  make  use  of  the  term  complete,  influenced  un- 
doubtedly by  the  topography  of  the  surface,  and  the  character  of  the  soil 
overlaying  tbe  drains,  which  are  more  honestly  built  than  many  through- 
out the  more  modern  city  under  a  corrupt  contract  system.  A  thorough 
system  of  drainage  by  means  of  sewers,  is  of  vital  importance  to  the 
health  of  large  cities  ;  and  no  spot  on  the  face  of  the  globe  is  more  favored 
for  carrying  out  that  system,  than  our  own  New  York,  surrounded  as  she 
is  by  water-courses  ready  to  receive  and  bear  to  the  ocean  on  the  receding 
tide  all  that  passes  daily  into  them  ;  and  yet  what  miserable  apologies  are 
constructed  beneath  this  great  metropolis,  to  give  origin  to  constant  com- 
plaints of  offensive  sewer-gases  and  constantly  recurring  nuisances  from 
obstructions,  bad  grading,  etc. ! 

Streets. — The  streets  run  about  north  and  south,  east  and  west,  and 
are  of  a  uniform  width,  54  feet  from  house  to  house,  with  the  exception  of 
Canal  and  Grand  Streets,  which  are  respectively  90  and  75  feet  wide, 
and  are  the  only  ones  paved  with  Belgian  pavement.  The  surface  is 
generally  well  paved,  and  the  gutters  in  good  repair,  and  adequate  to 
carry  off  any  standing  water.  The  public  health  is  influenced  by  the 
manner  in  which  the  streets  are  kept,  so  far  as  removing  garbage  and 
cleansing  generally ;  and  although  I  have  in  my  record  book  noted  a  few 
solitary  instances  of  neglect  of  those  duties,  still  I  cannot  say  they  have 
resulted  in  any  pernicious  influences.  Grand  Street  is  watered  twice 
during  the  day,  during  the  warm  season,  and  the  pavement  is  thus  kept 
constantly  moist,  and  yet  I  have  noticed  no  injurious  effects  in  conscqueuce 
upon  this  locality.  But  the  insalubrious  effect  upon  the  public  health  is 
too  evident  wherever  standing  water  accumulates  ;  and  many  localities, 
only  a  few  years  back,  in  this  great  city,  were  afflicted  in  consequence  with 
a  malaria  frightful  in  its  effects  upon  both  the  social  and  physical  condi- 
tion of  the  laboring  classes.  As  one  example  I  would  call  your  attention 
once  more  to  the  topography  of  the  Eighth  District,  and  the  slope  from 
it  terminating  in  Centre  Street,  where  once  was  known  in  all  its  noxious 
influence  the  "  Collect,"  disseminating  almost  every  disease  that  human 
skill  is  called  upon  to  combat.  The  moral  as  well  as  the  physical  tone  of  the 
neighborhood  was  fearful  until  the  unsightly  pool  was  shut  out  from  the 
eye  by  means  of  undcrdrainage,  through  a  massive  and  capacious  sewer, 
down  Canal  Street  to  the  Hudson  River. 

The  influence  of  topographical  conditions  upon  the  public  health 
may  be  very  properly  illustrated  by  taking  the  belt  across  our  Island  in 
the  centre  of  which  our  glorious  Park  is  situated.  Only  a  few  years  sinco 


OKDER  AND  INDUSTRY  EST  THE  TENTH  WARD. 


93 


a  more  unhealthy  locality  could  scarcely  he  found,  considering  the  com- 
paratively sparse  population.  Beautiful  country-seats  were  deserted,  and 
fevers  held  entire  control.  The  reasons  for  this  were  evident.  The  rock, 
approaching  close  to  the  surface,  prevented  the  moisture  from  percolating 
to  any  depth,  and  the  exhalations  produced  the  miasmata  so  general  in  its 
results.  Streets  have  been  cut  through,  which,  together  with  the  improve- 
ments in  that  great  Reservoir  of  Public  Health,  have  changed  the 
whole  face  of  the  country,  both  in  a  sanitary  and  topographical  point  of 
view. 

Squares. — In  the  Eighth  District  there  are  48  square,  or  blocks,  three- 
fifths  of  which  are  in  a  good  sanitary  condition,  two-fifths  in  a  mixed,  and 
none  bad.  The  causes  which  render  squares  in  whole  or  in  part  insa- 
lubrious in  this  district  may  be  traced  to  their  being  built  in  low  places  or 
upon  made  ground,  where  an  insufficiency  of  drainage  exists.  Such 
places  offer  no  inducements  for  those  to  remain  who  can  possibly  find  the 
means  to  seek  more  favored  localities  ;  a  depreciation  of  property  ensues, 
and  the  poor  rush  in  filling  every  hole  and  corner  to  repletion.  I  have 
already  stated  that  the  Germans,  principally  mechanics,  predominate  in 
this  district,  and  having  brought  with  them  from  the  "Fatherland"  all 
of  their  institutions,  not  excepting  "  lager  bier"  they  present  excellent 
illustrations  of  the  effects  of  healthful  out-door  exercise  and  clanish  enjoy- 
ment. They  have  more  pastimes  and  festivals  than  the  people  of  other 
nations,  and  as  a  class  they  may  be  looked  upon  as  proficients  in  all 
athletic  exercises  which  tend  to  promote  the  healthful  development  of  their 
systems.  The  east  side  of  the  city  is  a  "  terra  incognita"  to  most  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  west  end  ;  but  should  curiosity  prompt  any  of  them  to 
go  through  Grand  Street,  the  main  artery  of  this  section,  on  any  fair 
Saturday  evening,  they  will  be  astonished  at  the  immensity  of  the  vast 
throngs  of  orderly,  and  cleanly,  well-dressed  people,  and  be  struck  with 
the  excellent  sanitary  condition,  as  evinced  by  the  healthful  appearance, 
and  the  provailing  dialect  will  stamp  them  as  coming  from  the  land  of 
Goethe.  Their  favorite  beverage,  for  old  and  young,  I  may  say,  has 
much  to  do  beneficially  with  their  moral  and  hygenic  condition,  when  we 
look  at  the  character  of  the  people,  morally,  socially,  and  hygienically,  who 
dwell  in  districts  where  pernicious  and  insidious  distilled  poisons  are  dealt 
out  without  stint  to  the  poor  working  man. 

Buildings. — The  proportion  of  tenant-houses  to  dwellings,  stores,  sa- 
loons, &c,  is  one-fifth,  and  a  very  small  number  are  what  would  be  called 
private  residences,  containing  three  or  less  families.  The  private  houses 
are  principally  the  old  landmarks,  built  substantially  of  brick,  with  very 
few  exceptions,  and  every  improvement  has  been  introduced  for  the  ingress 


94 


REPORT  OF  THE  EIGHTTI  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


and  egress  of  the  Croton-water  in  all  its  appliances.  The  rooms  in  these 
old-fashioned  houses  are,  as  a  general  thing,  nearly  one-third  larger  in  size 
than  of  those  in  tenements,  and  consequently  the  ventilation  must  be  all- 
sufficient.  Gas  is  generally  used  for  artifical  lighting,  and  the  parlor  and 
cooking-stove  dispense  their  -warmth  according  to  the  financial  circum- 
stances of  the  inmates.  Tenant-houses,  of  which  there  are  very  many 
good  ones  in  this  district,  have  been  to  me  the  subjects  of  peculiar  interest, 
which  has  been  fully  sustained  by  the  pleasing  results  of  my  investigations. 
There  are  45  double,  48  single,  61  rear,  and  196  partial  tenements,  all 
of  the  three  former  being  of  modern  structure.  The  rooms  in  each  will 
average  12  by  14  feet,  with  height  of  ceiling  9  feet,  giving  1,512  cubic 
feet  to  each.  The  average  number  of  persons  to  each  apartment  is  three, 
and  with  the  most  ordinary  precautions  for  the  removal  of  the  vitiated 
atmosphere,  and  the  free  admission  of  the  fresh  air,  there  would  be  an 
abundant  supply  for  respiration. 

Ventilation. — Dr.  Reid,  in  his  admirable  and  reliable  work  "  Illus- 
trations of  Ventilation"  says  :  "  In  a  room  12  feet  square,  12  feet  high, 
containing,  therefore,  1,728  cubic  feet  of  air,  there  are  10  persons  who 
respire  the  whole  air  of  the  room  in  151  hours,  and  require  a  complete 
change  every  17  minutes  in  order  to  supply  them  with  10  cubic  feet  per 
minute."  The  buildings  vary  from  5  to  6  stories  in  height,  containing  on  an 
average  20  rooms  each,  with  hall  rooms  through,  and  Croton-water  upon 
each  floor,  with  sinks  for  ordinary  slops.  The  space  between  a  front  and 
rear  tenement,  built  upon  the  same  lot,  is  generally  from  25  to  35  feet, 
and  in  the  centre  of  this  space  the  water-closets  are  situated,  one  for  every 
three  families,  who  have  access  by  means  of  keys,  and  they  are  kept  in  a 
cleanly  condition. 

There  are  no  dark  rooms,  windows  being  cut  in  the  gables  overlook- 
ing the  passages  leading  to  the  isolated  rear  tenements  ;  hence  every  facility 
for  thoroughly  changing  the  character  of  the  internal  air. 

Assuming  that  the  inhabitants  of  these  dwellings  belong  to  an  indus- 
trious and  comparatively  educated  class,  it  is  but  fair  to  suppose  them 
appreciating  the  facilities  within  their  reach,  to  make  them  cleanly,  com- 
fortable, and  happy.  "  Heat  is  more  essential  to  the  human  frame  than 
fresh  air,  which  consumes  the  body  by  slow  combustion,  or  oxygenation, 
when  food  is  not  supplied." 

Stoves  arc  principally  used  for  giving  warmth  as  well  as  for  culinary 
purposes  ;  and  although  some  open  fire-places  occur,  the  ventilating  shaft 
or  chimney  is  in  a  measure  closed  up.  "  Ventilation  need  not  be  expected 
where  food,  fuel,  aud  clothing  arc  deficient ; "  but  as  I  am  speaking  of  n 
people  who  have  enough,  if  not  an  abundance  of  those  three  necessaries 


TENANT-HOUSE  PACKING.  OTHEK  EVILS. 


95 


of  life,  we  would  fain  hope  they  might  distinguish  the  difference  and  ad- 
vantages of  fresh  and  constantly-renewed  air,  over  vitiated  and  noxious. 

There  are  garhage-hoxes,  hut  not  at  all  sufficient  for  a  people 
disposed  to  be  cleanly,  and  who  are  compelled  from  necessity  to  throw  their 
garbage  into  the  streets,  to  be  removed  at  the  convenience  of  the  authori- 
ties, who  fail  to  evince  a  cooperative  spirit  with  you  in  your  great  hygienic 
labor. 

The  mephitic  odor  that  emanates  from  this  neglect  is  the  only 
nuisance  of  my  district ;  and  the  only  hypothesis  I  can  assume,  why  it  has 
not  affected  the  health  of  it  materially,  is  from  the  fact  of  its  elevation 
giving  great  salubrity,  the  width  and  regularity  of  the  streets  acting  as 
external  ventilators,  and  the  total  absence  in  the  district  of  any  thing 
approaching  a  "  cul-de-sac."  Under  such  conditions,  in  other  localities 
less  favored,  the  influence  internally  and  externally  upon  the  inhabitants, 
in  a  sanitary  sense,  would  be  very  pernicious. 

It  is  estimated  that  more  than  one-half  of  our  population  reside  in 
tenant-houses  ;  and  Dr.  Harris  states,  in  his  admirable  treatise  on  ventila- 
tion, as  far  back  as  1858:  "In  the  Seventeenth  Ward  there  are  1,257 
tenant-houses,  containing,  at  that  time,  a  population  of  57,000  ;  "  he  also 
states,  that  "  in  the  lower  wards  the  tenant-houses  are  more  closely 
packed.  In  one  of  them,  containing  120  to  150  families,  of  3  to  10 
persons  each,  there  are  but  40  feet  of  frontage  and  sunlight.  The  last 
visitation  of  cholera  was  terrific,  as  well  as  malignant  typhus  ;  eight  per- 
sons down  with  the  latter  disease  being  found  in  one  small  room." 

These  were  fearful  figures  five  years  ago ;  and  with  the  increase  of 
emigration  since  then,  there  has  been  a  proportionate  addition  to  the  fear- 
ful evil.  A  walk  through  Greenwich  to  Cortlandt  Street,  where  once 
the  aristocracy  of  our  city  resided,  will  satisfy  the  most  skeptical  as  to 
the  above  truths.  Being  near  the  shipping,  and  the  emigrants'  depot  at 
Castle  Garden,  very  many  of  the  poor  creatures,  who  pass  through  the 
last-named  institution,  are  induced  from  its  contiguity  to  take  up  their 
residence  here,  and  crowd  to  suffocation  the  hundreds  of  houses  never 
intended  to  be  used  as  tenements.  The  seeds  of  all  pestilential  diseases 
are  planted  in  such  localities,  and  inevitably  burst  forth  upon  the  first 
provocation. 

Another  condition  materially  affecting  the  health  of  residents  in  tenant- 
houses  in  densely-populated  quarters,  as  Dr.  Rcid  says,  consists  "  in  a 
healthy  tone  and  character  to  the  occupation  of  their  leisure  hours." 
Hence  we  properly  may  note  the  number  and  character  of  the  dram-shops 
and  places  of  dissipation  in  this  district. 

In  tbe  Eighth  District  [the  Tenth  Ward]  there  are  526  drinking 


96 


REPORT  OF  THE  EIGHTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


shops,  including  lager  bier  saloons,  at  least  30  houses  of  prostitution,  and 
I  theatre. 

There  are  2  grammar  schools,  5  churches,  1  burial-ground,  Essex  Mar- 
ket, Police  Station-House,  Eastern  Dispensary,  1  Jail  and  House  of  Deten- 
tion, 6  carpenter  shops,  2  carriage  factories,  3  livery  stables,  and  20  private 
stables. 

Within  my  inspection  district  the  several  district  physicians  from  the 
Eastern  Dispensary  attend  225  patients  per  annum,  and  100  cases  receive 
the  attention  of  the  New  York  Dispensary  physicians.  The  convenient 
proximity  of  these  two  dispensaries  is  partially  the  reason  of  so  few  calls 
for  district  physicians  in  this  ward. 

There  have  been  about  half  a  dozen  cases  of  "  small-pox"  during  the 
past  six  months,  no  epidemics  have  shown  themselves,  and  but  a  few 
isolated  cases  of  fever  have  been  developed.  Few  sections  of  the  city  are 
blessed  with  such  a  high  degree  of  health.  Perhaps  no  other  district  of 
equal  population  is  favored  with  better  natural  conditions  of  salubrity. 
In  1860  the  population  of  this  ward  amounted  to  29,051 :  the  mortality 
was  796,  or  27  to  every  1,000  of  the  deaths ;  98  occurred  in  March,  and 
33  in  December.  In  1861  there  were  724  deaths,  which  was  one-thirtieth 
of  the  whole  mortality  in  the  city.  The  deaths  in  1862  were  764,  101  in 
August,  and  43  in  October.  In  1863  there  were  858  deaths ;  117  in  Au- 
gust, and  51  in  September. 

The  number  of  deaths  occurring  since  January  to  September,  1864, 
inclusive,  amount  to  724,  as  follows  : 

January,  96  ;  February,  85  ;  March,  63  ;  April,  65  ;  May,  70  ;  June, 
59  ;  July,  137  ;  August,  83  ;  September,  66 — total,  724. 

The  above  facts  sustain  me  in  my  previously-expressed  opinion  of  the 
character,  hygienically,  of  the  Eighth  District,  while  looking  at  the  records 
of  the  Seventeenth  to  the  Twenty-Second  Districts  for  this  year,  which 
show  a  mortality  on  an  average  more  than  double  that  of  the  Eighth.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  all  the  above  districts  are  filled  with  tenant- 
houses,  and  in  consequence  include  a  large  population.  Cholera  infan- 
tum, marasmus,  and  convulsions  more  than  decimate  these  localities  of 
children,  from  one  to  five  years  old,  particularly  those  of  Irish  parentage. 
The  infant  rarely  receives  its  nourishment  unvitiatcd  ;  and  even  when  that 
phase  of  nature  has  passed,  a  careless  and  indifferent  supervision  of  diet 
occurs;  hence  the  large  figures  in  the  bills  of  mortality.  July  and 
August  in  every  district  show  a  large  incrcaso  of  deaths  in  consequence 
of  these  months,  particularly  the  former  being  included  in  the  season  of 
unripe  fruits. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

NINTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


OSCAR   G.   SMIJE,    M.  D . , 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — North  by  Division  and  Grand  Streets,  east  by  the  East 
River,  south  by  Catharine  Street,  west  by  Division  Street.  This  District 
comprises  all  the  Seventh  Ward. 

Topograph?. — The  original  topography  of  this  district  was  hilly, 
sloping  to  the  East  River.  These  hills  of  diluvium  sand,  gravel,  and 
boulders,  were  abrupt  and  bluffy  toward  the  river,  and,  in  the  north- 
eastern section,  at  what  was  originally  termed  Crown  Point,  and  now 
Corlears  Hook,  there  was  a  sharp  bluff  covered  with  immense  boulders. 

The  reclaimed  or  artificially  filled  ground  comprises  all  the  land  east 
of  Corlears  Street,  and  including  that  street  to  the  corner  of  Corlears  and 
Front  Streets.  All  south  of  Front  up  to  Jackson  Street ;  all  south  of 
Water  and  Gouverneur  Slip  ;  all  south  of  Front  Street  at  Montgomery 
Slip  ;  all  south  of  a  certain  point  between  Cherry  and  Water  Streets,  on 
Jefferson  Street ;  and  all  south  of  Water  at  Pike  Street  and  Rutgers 
Slip. 

The  material  employed  in  the  filling  in  of  this  reclaimed  land  was  the 
brick  and  wall  refuse  of  torn-down  buildings,  street-sweeping  dirt,  ashes, 
garbage,  cast-off  clothing  and  furniture,  and  all  manner  of  offal. 

There  were  no  water-courses,  and  but  one  small  pond  ;  the  latter  was 
surrounded  by  large  trees,  near  where  Henry  Street  and  Jefferson  Street 
intersect. 

On  the  authority  of  an  old  and  well-known  citizen  of  the  Sevent  h  Ward, 
Mr.  Crosby,  it  may  be  recorded  that  there  was  no  stream  to  mention  from 
this  pond,  only  a  wet  meadow  extended  down  toward  the  river  from  it. 

The  present  surface-drainage  of  this  portion  of  the  city  is  excellent. 
1 


i 


98 


REPORT  OF  THE  NINTTI  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


It  is  like  the  roof  of  a  house,  the  ridge  being  the  northwest  boundary 
line  of  the  district,  and  the  eaves  the  southerly  boundary  line. 

"Whatever  superiority  may  be  observed  in  the  health  tables  of  the 
Seventh  Ward,  is,  in  my  opinion,  mainly  owing  to  the  influence  of  these 
topographical  conditions. 

Streets. — The  direction  of  the  streets  of  the  district  arc  parallel  to 
each  other,  and  the  cross-streets  intersecting  at  right  angles. 

The  pavement  is  of  cobble  stones,  except  in  Grand  Street,  New  Canal 
Street,  and  East  Broadway,  which  has  the  "  Belgian  "  or  square  block 
stone,  and  the  best  for  health  and  cleanliness. 

The  sidewalks  are  paved  with  flagging,  and  there  are  some  brick  walks 
in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  district.  The  condition  of  sidewalks  and  streets 
is  good  generally,  except  along  the  river.  Cherry  Street  is  exceedingly 
filthy,  not  only  in  the  streets  and  gutters  but  on  the  sidewalks.  Cath- 
arine Street  is  very  narrow,  and  being  a  thronged  thoroughfare  from  a 
ferry,  and  occupied  by  a  large  market  and  stores  throughout  its  length,  is 
in  a  very  bad  condition.  By  day  people  are  constantly  crowded  together 
on  the  narrow,  dirty  sidewalks.  Tradesmen's  wares,  huge  signs,  drays, 
carriages,  porters  with  burdens,  and  mud  beneath  everywhere,  constitute 
the  confused  spectacle  here.  This  is  repeated  on  Division  Street,  another 
narrow,  ill-paved  thoroughfare,  but  a  shade  less  intensified.  In  Corlears 
Street,  Jackson  Street,  Scammel  Street,  and  in  fact  the  whole  most  east- 
erly portion  of  the  district,  the  streets  and  gutters  are  very  filthy  with 
mud,  ashes,  garbage,  etc. 

This  condition  of  the  streets  may  be  found  in  those  localities  that  are 
overcrowded  with  a  tenant-house  population.  For  example,  the  square 
bounded  by  Jefferson  Street,  Clinton  Street,  Henry  Street,  and  East 
Broadway,  where  there  are  no  tenant-houses,  no  rear  buildings  of  any 
kind,  neither  a  wooden  frame  building  nor  a  single  liquor  store,  all  are 
good  brick  or  stone  private  dwellings,  witli  clean  pavements  and  elegant 
shade  trees.  The  two  stables  that  are  on  the  square  arc  private,  and 
kept  clean  and  in  order.  Contrast  (his  square  with  the  one  bounded  by 
Jackson  Street,  Corlears  Street,  Madison  Street,  Grand  and  Monroe 
Streets,  which  has  5G  dwellings,  31  tenant-houses — 12  of  which  are  rear — 
2  vacant  lots,  alleys  all  filthy,  streets  dirty,  with  a  descending  grade  east- 
erly, and  borders  the  original  high-water  line.  With  its  8  dram-shops,  9 
stables,  JO  workshops  and  mills,  sidewalks  broken,  uneven  and  dirty,  can 
it  be  doubted  that  there  is  insalubrity  here  ?  With  all  these  disadvan- 
tages of  bad  sanitary  condition,  is  it  to  be  mistaken  what  arc  tho  causes 
of  insalubrity  ?  In  comparing  these  two  squares  together,  there  will  be 
no  difficulty  in  conjecturing  in  what  respect  the  streets  influence  tho  pub- 


NOXIOUS  EFFLUVIA. — DILAPIDATED  TENEMENTS. 


99 


lie  health,  especially  if  they  be  at  the  bottom  of  a  grade  or  well  toward 
the  foot  of  a  descending  grade.  Although  there  are  other  causes  of  the 
insalubrity  in  this  square  which  will  be  referred  to  again,  the  surrounding 
streets  have  much  to  do  with  its  unhealthiness.  One  square  is  reeking 
with  filth,  dirt,  and  other  causes  of  pestilential  diseases,  and  the  other 
square  is  clean,  orderly,  not  overcrowded  with  people,  and  free  from  en- 
demic diseases. 

Sewerage. — The  Seventh  Ward  is  imperfectly  sewered  in  its  eastern 
section.  The  early  sewerage  system  of  the  city  was  very  defective,  and 
consequently  the  sewers  in  East  Broadway  and  Henry  Street,  in  the  west- 
ern portion  of  the  Seventh  Ward,  that  were  laid  first,  are  not  the  best. 

According  to  my  observations  the  past  season,  the  openings  of  the 
sewers  into  the  river  at  the  "  slips "  are  small,  emptying  at  high-water 
mark,  and  at  low  tide  4  or  5  feet  above  the  water.  It  is  noticeable  at  the 
foot  of  Market,  Pike,  and  Gouverneur  Streets,  where  at  the  foot  of  the 
latter  street  are  two  sewer  openings. 

A  defective  system  of  sewerage  is  obviously  very  detrimental  to  pub- 
lic health,  and  it  is  especially  so  where  the  sewers  from  houses  do  not 
work  well  from  the  water-closets.  Deleterious  gases  are  driven  back  into 
the  houses  when  high  winds  and  very  high  tides  prevail.  Where  steam 
power  is  used,  it  is  customary  to  allow  the  blowing  off  of  steam  into  the 
sewers.  Gasworks  are  also  allowed  to  discharge  their  wastings  and  re- 
fuse into  them.  Human  exuviaj  when  decomposing  is  one  of  the  greatest 
sources  of  disease,  and  therefore  should  be  removed  and  not  allowed  to 
collect  from  any  imperfection  of  water-closet  apparatus  or  defective  sew- 
erage. 

Squares. — There  are  73  squares  in  this  district.  17  of  these  are  in 
good  sanitary  condition,  but  they  constitute  less  than  one-quarter  of  the 
whole  district.  27  are  in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition,  and  29  are  decid- 
edly bad. 

The  causes  which  render  a  square  wholly  or  in  part  insalubrious  are, 
the  greater  or  less  quantity  of  tenant-house  population,  the  overcrowding 
and  sometimes  packing  (by  taking  of  boarders,  as  they  style  it)  in  tenants 
domiciles,  defective  house  sewerage,  want  or  neglect  of  domestic  cleanli- 
ness, carelessness  in  the  disposal  of  garbage,  ashes,  and  filth. 

The  presence  of  old  wooden  shanties  used  for  stables,  and  of  old 
wooden  frame  buildings,  sensibly  affect  the  sanitary  condition.  We  must 
also  take  into  consideration  that  the  tenant-house  class  of  people  are 
crowded  in  houses  where,  through  the  cupidity  of  landlords,  every  foot  of 
ground  is  "  made  to  pay,"  and  that  they  are  obliged  to  buy  inferior  food, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  they  are  the  most  unhealthy  class  of  people,  and 


100 


REPORT  OF  THE  NINTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


that  the  squares  where  they  live  are  the  most  insalubrious.  In  a  former 
page  we  have  compared  two  squares  to  show  the  difference  in  a  clean, 
wide  street,  and  a  dirty,  insalubrious  one.  Take  another  example,  in 
squares  side  by  side.  The  first,  bounded  by  Montgomery  and  Madison 
Streets,  has  good  dwellings,  occupied  by  families  well  to  do.  It  has  but 
one  rear  tenement,  and  that  is  well  kept,  with  a  clean  alley,  and  orderly, 
clean  inhabitants.  There  is  not  a  place  where  liquors  are  sold,  although 
stores  on  three  corners.  The  next  adjoining  square,  bounded  by  Gouv- 
erneur  and  Montgomery  Streets,  has  filthy  old  houses,  inhabited  by 
people  of  the  tenant-house  kind,  and  liquors  sold  on  every  corner ; 
dirty  streets,  alleys,  and  courts ;  stables  not  clean,  and  rows  of  wretch- 
ed old  wooden  frame  buildings.  Side  by  side  stands  an  excellent  square, 
with  good  inhabitants  and  good  dwellings,  in  a  good  sanitary  condi- 
tion, having  on  one  hand  a  square  in  a  bad  sanitary  condition,  and  on  the 
other  a  square  in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition.  The  latter  is  bounded  by 
Madison,  Henry,  Gouverneur,  and  Mongomery  Streets.  It  has  good 
dwellings  on  all  of  the  streets  except  Madison.  The  front  and  rear  tene- 
ments that  occupy  the  whole  of  the  latter  are  in  a  bad  sanitary  condition. 

Inhabitants. — The  population  of  this  district  is  made  up  principally 
of  mechanics,  laboring  'longshoremen,  and  sailors.  Sailor  boarding- 
houses  are  in  large  numbers  throughout  the  district.  A  few  of  the  old 
first-class  citizens  still  reside  in  the  central  portion.  In  the  eastern  part 
of  the  district  mechanics  and  laborers  live  in  closely-packed  tenant-houses, 
and  in  old-fashioned  two  and  three-story  houses. 

By  far  the  greater  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  is  of  the 
laboring  class.  The  occupation  of  the  majority  is  in  following  the  water 
or  working  as  'longshoremen,  and  the  various  trades  connected  witli  ship- 
ping and  warehousing. 

Buildings. — The  total  number  of  dwellings  is  2,153.  Of  these  274 
are  first-class  brick  or  stone  dwellings.  Of  the  dwelling-houses  not  built 
for  tenements  but  having  a  tenant-house  population,  there  are  1,269.  And 
there  are  610  noted  and  unmistakable  tenant-houses  of  the  modern  kind, 
and  having  the  modern  vices. 

Number  of  courts  and  alleys,         .....  117 

M       rear  tenant-houses,  .....  185 

"       wood  frame  dwellings,  .....  274 

M       places  where  intoxicating  drinks  arc  sold,    .  .  276 

"       Stables,  .  .  .  .  .  .129 

"       brothels,  9 
"        market-houses,  .  .  .  .  •  .5 

"       mills,  5 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  TENANT-HOUSES. 


101 


Number  of 

work-shops,  factories,  and  foundries, 

.  142 

« 

breweries,  ..... 

2 

u 

soap-manufactories, 

.  2 

u 

storage-buildings,  .... 

33 

u 

bonded  (U.  S.)  warehouses, 

.  9 

«< 

schools  (public  and  private) ,           .  . 

10 

u 

churches  and  houses  of  worship, 

.  6 

« 

ball  alleys,  ..... 

1 

u 

coal  yards,  .... 

.  9 

u 

timber  yards,  .... 

10 

u 

vacant  square,  .... 

.  1 

a 

vacant  lots,  ..... 

14 

The  general  character  of  the  private  dwellings  in  this  district  will  not 
compare  unfavorably  with  first-class  dwellings  in  other  sections  of  the  city. 
They  are  built  of  brick,  two,  three,  and  four  stories,  on  the  usual  city 
lots,  25  X 100  feet,  and  belong  to  a  former  period  before  the  fashion  turn- 
ed to  Murray  Hill. 

The  general  character  of  the  buildings  occupied  as  tenant-houses  in 
this  district  is  old,  poor,  unsuitable,  deficient  in  water  supply,  defective  in 
drainage,  and  without  provision  for  the  disposal  of  garbage  and  slops. 
"Water-closets  are  commonly  the  well-hole  kind,  and  if  with  sewerage  con- 
nection there  is  too  often  some  obstruction  which  makes  them  sources  of 
nuisance.  The  apartments  are  a  room  and  one  or  two  bedrooms  to  each 
family,  which  averages  five  persons.  In  each  house  two  or  four  famines  are 
on  each  floor,  with  hall  and  stairs  in  centre.  The  rooms  are  often  badly 
ventilated,  small,  and  bedrooms  dark.  The  halls  arc  generally  narrow, 
dark,  dirty,  and  poorly  ventilated. 

By  far  the  majority  of  the  tenement  population  in  this  district  live  in 
houses  not  built  as  tenements.  They  arc  old  two  and  three-story  private 
dwellings,  and  are  turned  into  tenant-houses  by  their  owners,  who  think 
it  money  thrown  away  to  repair  them.  The  large  number  of  old  wooden 
frame  buildings  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  district  is  surprising.  In  ref- 
erence to  the  deficient  water  supply,  it  may  be  stated,  the  usual  style  among 
tenant-houses  is,  a  hydrant  and  sink  in  a  central  position  of  the  court-yard 
for  the  use  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  both  the  front  and  rear  houses,  there 
being  no  water  in  the  houses.  The  water-closets  are  in  the  court  also. 
In  many  instances  the  drainage  is  superficial,  by  a  gutter  formed  of 
flagging  in  the  alley  obliquely  placed  for  water  and  slops  to  run  to  the 
street  gutters.  In  some  cases  it  seemed  questionable  whether  the  alley 
was  intended  as  an  entrance-way  to  a  rear  house,  or  a  sewage-ditch  for 
slops,  water,  garbage,  human  excrements,  and  urine. 


102 


EEPOET  OF  THE  NINTH  SANITAET  DISTEICT. 


In  connection  with  the  subject  of  drainage,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
two  instances  were  discovered  in  which  the  old  rain-water  cisterns  in 
the  yard  were  used  as  sinks  with  stone  covers,  and  the  decomposing  gases 
bubble  up  through  the  water.  These  cistern-sinks  have  no  sewer  connec- 
tion. The  health  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  houses,  and,  secondarily, 
the  sanitary  condition  of  the  square,  are  greatly  influenced  by  these  bad 
arrangements  of  house  drainage,  deficient  water  supply,  disposal  of  garb- 
age, bad  supply  of  light  and  air,  damp  cellars,  unventilated  dormitories, 
crowded  rooms,  in  which  the  family  live,  eat,  cook,  and  work. 

To  exhibit  in  what  respect  these  conditions  influence  the  public  health 
and  also  the  health  and  happiness  of  the  inmates,  an  example  can  be 
given  on  the  insalubrious  square  first  mentioned  in  this  report,  compared 
with  a  good  square.  On  the  square  bounded  by  Jackson,  Corlears,  Madison, 
Grand,  and  Monroe  Streets,  is  a  tenant-house,  at  No.  —  Monroe  Street, 
which  is  now  inhabited  by  40  families  and  200  persons.*  During  this 
season  20  cases  of  typhus  fever  originated  in  this  one  place  alone.  The 
size  of  the  lot  is  about  40  feet  by  100  feet ;  size  of  the  house  30  feet  by 
100  feet.  It  is  built  of  brick  and  wood,  and  stands  "  end  to  the  street." 
A  grocery  and  liquor  store  fronts  the  street.  A  small,  narrow,  old,  and 
broken  stairway  ascends  from  the  street  door  to  the  second  story.  The 
house  fronts  easterly,  and  has  a  narrow  court  in  its  front  open  to  the 
street,  with  a  stable-shanty  at  the  entrance.  A  Croton  hydrant  and 
sink  is  in  a  central  and  commanding  position  of  the  court.  The  water- 
closets,  which  are  a  curiosity  to  view,  are  in  the  rear  of  the  court,  and 
have  wood  steps  to  ascend  to  the  top  of  the  privy,  from  thence  by  other 
old  wooden  steps  to  another  entrance  to  the  second  story  of  the  house. 
Heaps  of  dirt  are  observed  behind  the  water-closet.  This  tenant-house  is 
four  stories  high.  The  rooms  are  all  small,  dirty,  very  badly  ventilated, 
damp,  poorly  lighted,  and  wretched  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word.  The 
cellar  or  basement  portion  lets  out  at  $2  a  month,  each  apartment  con- 
sisting of  room  and  bedroom.  Height  of  the  ceiling  feet.  There  arc 
three  entrances,  one  to  each  pair  of  families.  To  this  inhabited  cellar-story 
— which  is  altogether  under  ground — wooden  steps  descend  to  a  small  ves- 
tibule, from  which  open  three  doors  to  two  suites  of  rooms  consisting  of  a 
cramped-up,  dirty,  exceedingly  foul,  damp,  mouldy,  and  close  room  and 
dark  bedroom  with  a  closet.  Ono  chimney-flue,  one  window  and  door 
arc  the  only  means  of  giving  light  and  air  to  the  occupants.  The  size  of 
the  room  10  x  14  feet.  Bedroom  9  X  12  feet,  and  entirely  dark  at  high 
noon.  There  is  a  foul,  damp  smell  about  the  place.  The  inhabitants, 
affected  with  scrofula,  arc  destitute  of  energy,  and  are  obviously  dispirited 
and  depraved.  In  going  into  other  portions  of  this  miserable  house,  all 
•  See  the  Plan  and  Sectional  Views  of  this  tenant-house  on  page  103  opposite. 


TENANT-HOUSE  FEVEE-NEST  IN  MONROE  STREET. 


103 


may  be  observed  to  bave  sometbing  to  do,  either  cooking,  washing,  iron- 
ing, or  sewing ;  but  in  these  cellars  they  are  idle,  listless,  and  look  like 
prisoners  in  a  cell  that  have  now  some  one  to  visit  and  look  at  them. 
The  rooms  on  the  first  floor  are  not  so  bad,  but  are  close  and 
unventilated.  On  the  next  floor,  second  story,  which  is  reached 
by  two  entrances,  from  the  street  and  from  the  court,  by  means 
of  the  wooden  steps  from  the  water-closet,  a  narrow  hall  extends 
the  length  of  the  rear  of  the  building,  and  four  short  halls  lead  from 
it,  each  to  a  pair  of  apartments.  The  width  of  these  short  halls  is  three 
feet ;  width  of  the  main  hall,  extending  along  the  back  of  the  building,  is  six 
feet,  in  which  are  the  stairways,  the  coal-bins,  &c.  There  are  eight 
family  domiciles  on  this  and  each  of  the  upper  floors.  Each  family  has 
a  room  and  bedroom.  The  door  opens  into  the  little  hall.  There  is  no 
ventilation  except  by  the  small  windows  of  the  front  room,  the  bedroom 
receiving  air  only  by  the  very  small  hole  opening  into  the  main  hall  near 
the  ceibng.  This  opening  is  tightly  closed  with  boards  nailed  over  it 
during  winter.  The  halls  are  dark,  dirty,  damp,  foul,  and  chilly.  The 
rear  has  only  two  windows  on  each  floor,  of  four  small  panes  of  glass 


PLAN  OF  THE  MONROE  STREET  FEVER-NEST. 


104 


REPORT  OF  TIIE  NINTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


each.  The  ceiling  of  the  third  floor  is  6J  feet  high.  In  some  of  the 
rooms  and  dormitories  on  this  floor  in  midsummer,  green  mould  is  observed 
on  the  walls.  If  it  be  taken  into  consideration  that  in  -winter  the  windows 
and  doors  must  be  shut  and  fires  made,  is  it  a  wonder,  with  the  poor  ven- 
tilation the  building  has,  and  the  small,  dark,  and  foul  halls,  rooms  so 
damp,  close,  and  wretched,  that  disease  and  pestilence  should  perpetually 
exist  in  and  spread  from  this  crowded  tenant-house  ?  *  The  building  is 
located  on  that  part  of  the  street  at  or  near  the  bottom  of  the  grade,  and 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  original  high-water  mark.  It  is  surrounded  on 
all  sides  with  wooden  hovels  of  stables,  and  high  tenant-houses. 

We  will  give  one  more  example  of  the  external  and  internal  condition 
of  tenant-houses  influencing  the  health  of  residents : 

Between  Pike  and  Eutgers  Streets,  connecting  Monroe  with  Cherry 
Street,  is  a  narrow  and  filthy  alley  called  "  Pelham  Street."  On  the  west 
side  is  a  row  of  brick  and  wood  tenements  inhabited  from  cellar  to  garret 
by  a  squalid  population.  The  cellar  has  7  feet  ceiling  ;  damp,  black  with 
old  filth,  and  very  wretched  in  appearance.    Four  families  inhabit  each 


*  The  following  table  exhibits  at  a  glancs  the  families,  persons,  sickness,  and  deaths, 
in  this  one  tenantrhouse.    This  census  was  taken  late  in  the  Autumn. 


MONTHS. 

Number  of  Fami- 
lies. 

b 

H 
t* 

«-i 
O 

b 

9  — • 

E  § 

B  «" 
& 

Diseases  existing. 

Deaths. 

41 

205 

Scrofula,  Svphills,  Ty- 
phus and  Typhoid  Fc- 
vor. 

1 

86 

ISO 

Consumption,  Scrofula,  Sy- 
philis, Cholera  Infantum. 

8 



89 

195 

8 
4 

Scrof.  Conjunctivitis. 



89 

195 

Dlarrhrca,  Scrofula,  Ac, 
Tuberculosis,  Alcohol- 
ism! 

1 

40 

200 

Scrofula,  Tuberculosis,  De- 
lirium Tremens,  and  In- 
temperance. 

1 



89 

195 

Scrofula,  Tuberculosis. 

2 

82 

100 

Tuberculosis,  Scrofula,  Al- 
coholism. Ac 

0 

THE  PELHAM  STREET  ROOKERIES. 


105 


of  the  six  houses.  They  are  old,  out  of  repair,  dirty,  and  small.  The 
flooring  "worn,  and  steps  of  the  stairways  worn  tlirough.  Doors  off  the 
hinges  and  broken.  The  houses  are  two  stories,  and  yards  very  small. 
The  size  of  the  lots  45  X  18  feet,  18  X  35  feet.  The  yards  are  loaded 
with  all  manner  of  filth  and  rubbish.  The  "privies"  are  the  old  well- 
hole  kind,  and  are  overflowing  into  and  over  the  yard.  In  one  instance 
there  is  one  privy  to  three  houses  !  An  opening  in  the  partition  fence 
gives  access  to  the  residents.  The  side  wall  of  a  very  extensive  soap  fac- 
tory on  Monroe  Street  forms  the  rear  of  these  yards.  The  privy-houses 
are  in  part  or  entirely  gone,  and  present  a  truly  disgusting  spectacle.  The 
sidewalks  of  the  street  are  very  narrow,  pavements  broken  and  very 
dirty.  These  places  must  be  seen  to  be  fully  appeciated,  description  is 
impossible. 

In  this  district  the  retail  shops  and  stores  are  all  on  Grand,  Division, 
Catharine,  and  Jackson  Streets. 

The  workshops  consist  of  blacksmiths,  shipwrights,  ship-joiners,  ship- 
chandlery,  cooperages,  iron-foundries,  machine  and  boiler-shops,  sugar- 
refiners,  flour-mills,  bakeries,  cabinet  and  carriage  shops,  &c. 

There  are  no  slaughter-houses,  bone-boiling,  or  fat-boiling  establish- 
ments, and  but  two  soap-factories. 

The  vacant  lots  in  general  are  well  kept  and  fenced  in. 

The  wooden  piers  and  wharves  are  generally  in  a  bad  condition. 
They  are  old,  decayed,  and  filthy.  During  the  whole  summer,  the  pier 
next  to  Catharine  Ferry  was  in  complete  ruins,  and  the  end  of  pier  49, 
between  Clinton  and  Montgomery  Slips,  is  bodily  sunken  into  the  mud  of 
the  river. 

Nuisances. — The  garbage  and  ash-box  nuisance  is  a  great  evil  in  the 
Seventh  Ward.  It  pollutes  the  houses,  courts,  alleys,  vacant  lots,  streets, 
and  gutters,  giving  off  pestilential  gases,  offending  the  sight,  and  injuring 
the  health  of  citizens.  It  is  a  matter  of  prime  importance  and  sanitary 
necessity  that  a  proper  method  of  removing  garbage  and  civic  filth 
speedily  and  neatly  should  be  adopted.  Science  and  experience  fully  de- 
monstrate the  value  of  such  materials  for  fertilizing  purposes  and  in  the 
arts,  and  when  so  used  be  a  source  of  city  revenue. 

Provisions  Against  Special  Nuisances. — The  almost  universal 
prevalence  of  a  very  offensive  class  of  cloacal  nuisances  that  inevitably 
result  from  the  absence  of  any  public  provision  and  privacy  for  the  "  calls 
of  nature,"  demands  immediate  attention  from  the  sanitary  authorities  of 
the  city.  The  disgusting  stench  that  is  kept  reeking  at  every  alley-corner, 
yard,  and  warehouse  wall,  is,  especially  in  this  inspection  district,  a  source 
of  public  insalubrity. 


106 


REPORT  OF  THE  NINTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


The  Wharves  and  Docks. — The  hygienic  importance  of  improve- 
ments that  are  required  in  the  construction  and  care  of  the  'wharves, 
docks,  and  slips  in  my  district,  is  not  likely  to  receive  the  attention  the 
subject  deserves.  Many  of  the  old  wooden  structures  along  the  river 
have  become  a  source  both  of  nuisance  and  danger,  and  I  would  respect- 
fully submit  whether  the  system  of  construction  and  management  of  the 
docks  ought  not  to  be  immediately  and  radically  improved. 

Prostitution. — Though  the  number  of  houses  of  ill-fame  in  this  dis- 
trict is  not  large,  those  that  are  known  are  of  the  lowest  and  vilest  kind. 
They  are  without  any  regulations  by  law  or  authority,  and  it  would  seem 
that  something  should  be  recommended  to  mitigate  or  stay  the  ravages  of 
syphilis. 

Small-Pox. — From  the  frequent  prevalence  of  small-pox  in  this  district, 
it  would  seem  that  some  regulation  or  law  should  be  enforced  to  make  vac- 
cination compulsory.  Certainly  every  reasonable  influence  should  be  used. 
Although  the  Dispensary  offers  vaccination  to  all  free  of  charge,  yet  there 
are  found  some  who  neglect  this  vitally-important  means  of  protection 
from  small-pox. 

The  frequency  of  places  where  liquor  is  sold  is  to  be  deplored.  Rum 
and  poverty  go  hand  in  hand,  producing  depravity,  crime,  and  disease. 

Two  hundred  and  seventy-six  places  are  in  the  Seventh  Ward  where 
liquor  is  sold,  and  they  are,  with  few  exceptions,  inimical  to  the  public 
health,  and  perilous  to  the  peace  of  the  city  as  well  as  the  morals  of  the 
laboring  classes. 

Chief  Justice  Hale  has  said  that  if  the  crimes  and  enormities  of  man- 
kind, the  robberies,  murders,  adulteries,  &c,  were  divided  into  five  parts, 
four  would  have  been  caused  by  rum. 

The  number  of  dram-shops  to  be  met  in  those  localities  where  a 
tenant-house  class  reside,  is  surprising.  They  exist  on  all  of  the  corners, 
in  the  centre  of  the  squares,  and  frequently  one  after  another  in  a  row. 
They  are  all  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  seem  to  encourage  each  other, 
at  least  there  is  no  opposition  or  rivalry,  but  thrive  in  cultivating  a  taste 
for  rum.  Some  squares  of  the  district  have  not  a  liquor  store  on  them, 
and  these  have  not  a  single  tenant-house. 

Overcrowded  Tenant-Houses. — Perfection  is  very  difficult  to 
reach,  and  cannot  be  attained  in  one  step.  So  the  remedy  for  all  the  evils 
of  tenant-houses  cannot  be  obtained  at  once.  We  can  approximate  a 
perfect  system  of  ventilation,  water  supply,  cleanliness,  and  comfort  in  a 
tenant-house.  We  can,  at  least,  refrain  from  packing  a  dozen  poor  fami- 
lial into  an  old  dilapidated  two-story  house,  built  for  one  family.  We 
can  give  a  more  liberal  supply  of  water,  better  ventilation,  the  defective 


DISEASES  AND  VITAL  STATISTICS  OF  SEVENTH  WAED. 


107 


house-drainage  and  sewerage  perfected,  water-closets  cleaned,  larger  halls 
and  rooms,  in  a  regular  built  tenant-house.  We  can  then  start  from  this 
improvement  to  reach  perfection.  Models  can  then  be  produced  of  dif- 
ferent classes  of  houses.  Those  intended  for  a  single  family,  those  for 
two  or  three,  those  for  four  or  six,  and  so  on  to  a  hotel  in  numbers  and 
capacity,  all  having  well-ventilated  and  roomy  passages,  apartments,  and 
dormitories  ;  the  water-closets  working  with  a  clean  and  perfect  appara- 
tus, light  and  fresh  air  in  abundance  to  every  one,  water  within  the  reach 
of  every  family,  and  comfort  for  all. 

Diseases. — The  rate  of  mortality  of  the  Seventh  Ward  is  found,  on 
examination,  to  be  increasing.  The  deaths  in  1862  were  one  to  every 
thirty-nine,  and  in  1863  one  to  every  thirty-one*  of  the  inhabitants.  In 
order  to  exhibit  the  mortality  a  few  tables  have  been  prepared  from  the 
City  Inspector's  Report,  and  also  tables  showing  the  number  of  families, 
average  number  of  persons  in  each  dwelling,  and  the  total  population  of 
the  Seventh  Ward. 


Deaths  in  each  Month  of  all  Classes  in  Ninth  District,  Seventh  Ward, 

1862-'63. 


1862. 


January,.. 
February, 
March, . . . 
April, .... 
May,  .... 
June,. . . . 

July,  


September,. 
October,  . . 
November, . 
December, . 


Total, 


108 
10 
86 
61 
83 
68 
99 

135 
93 
86 
66 
68 

1,018 


1863. 


January, . . 
February,  . 
March, . . . . 

April,  

May,  

June,  

July,  

August,.. . . 
September, 
October, . . . 
November, . 
December, . 

Total,  


Ratio  of  Deaths  1  in  39  in  1862,  or  2£  per  cent. 

"  "       31  in  1863,  or  3£  " 

Population  40,006. 
Number  of  Families,  7,354. 
Number  of  Families  to  each  Dwelling,  5i. 
Number  of  Persons  to  each  Dwelling,  17. 

*  Sec  Report  of  City  Inspector  for  year?  1862  and  1863  respectively. 


108 


EEPOET  OF  THE  NINTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Deaths  in  each  Month  of  Adults  and  Children  in  the  City  of  New  York 
during  the  year  1862. 


MONTHS. 

ADULTS. 

CHILDREN. 

TOTAL. 

722 

1,086 

1,808 

671 

919 

1,590 

783 

1,083 

1,866 

780 

991 

1,771 

714 

867 

1,581 

663 

830 

1,493 

July,  

724 

1,550 

2,274 

852 

1,675 

2,527 

682 

1,242 

1,924 

682 

814 

1,496 

606 

737 

1,343- 

676 

895 

1,571 

8,555  - 

12,689 

21,244 

Deaths  in  each  Month  of  Adults  and  Children  in  the  City  of  New  Yorh^ 
during  the  year  1863. 


MONTHS. 

ADULTS. 

CHILDREN. 

TOTAL. 

767 

1,032 

1,799 

805 

1,204 

2,009 

829 

1,129 

1,958 

870 

1,121 

1,991 

823 

977 

1,800 

763 

989 

1,752 

868 

1,814 

2,682 

1,263 

2,154 

3,417 

876 

1,146 

2,022 

922 

996 

1,918 

924 

908 

1,852 

896 

1,100 

1,996 

10,596 

14,600 

25,196 

No  great  amount  of  diarrhocal  complaints  have  occurred  on  this  side 
of  the  city  last  season.  What  dysentery,  measles,  and  fever  prevailed 
during  this  season  was  confined  to  those  squares  crowded  with  a  tenant- 
house  population.  Inflammations  of  an  erysipelatous  character  were  found 
in  those  localities  that  were  the  most  cursed  with  the  nuisances  of  old 
wooden  buildings,  filthy  yards,  alleys,  and  privies.  Small-pox  has  oc- 
curred in  former  years  in  the  eastern  section  of  the  district.  The  Dispen- 
sary District  Physician,  Dr.  Morse,  referred  to  several  cases  in  Monroe 
Street.  The  sickness  which  prevails  in  the  worst  tenant-houses,  without 
reference  to  its  nature,  is  always  found  leas  amenable  to  treatment  than  in 
places  in  better  sanitary  condition.    At  No.  —  Monroe  Street,  cholera 


THE  PREVALENT  DISEASES  LOCALIZED  BY  FILTH. 


109 


infantum  and  diarrhoeas  have  been  common  this  summer.  Several  deaths 
have  been  there  the  past  summer  from  those  causes.  In  Hamilton  Street 
there  have  been  a  number  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever  the  past  season.  It 
may  be  regarded  as  a  very  insalubrious  quarter,  as  there  are  many  old, 
filthy,  overcrowded  tenant-houses  in  the  street. 

Wherever  a  tenant-house  square  exists,  with  its  filthy  streets,  alleys, 
yards,  and  crowded  houses  badly  ventilated,  and  inhabitants  ill  fed  and 
poorly  clad,  there  pestilential  disease  prevails  with  greater  virulence ; 
demonstrating,  most  conclusively,  that  it  is  of  the  very  greatest  import- 
ance to  have  every  house,  yard,  and  street,  in  the  best  sanitary  condition, 
to  resist  diseases. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

TENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


JOHN   C.   ACHESON,   M.  D. 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — North  by  Eivington  Street,  east  by  the  East  River, 
south  ly  Division  and  Grand  Streets,  west  by  Norfolk  Street. 

Topography. — About  seven-eighths  of  the  district  is  almost  entirely 
level,  having  a  very  slight  descent  toward  the  river  ;  scarcely  sufficient, 
indeed,  to  carry  off  the  surface  drainage.  The  remainder  of  the  district 
lies  upon  the  northern  slope  of  an  elevation,  formerly  known  as  "  Mount 
Pitt,"  which  consisted  of  a  ridge  of  hills  elevated  from  10  to  30  feet 
above  the  adjoining  plain,  on  which,  in  revolutionary  times,  a  series  of 
forts  were  built  for  the  protection  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  city.  As  the 
city  advanced  in  that  direction  these  hills  were  cut  down,  so  as  to  con- 
form as  far  as  possible,  to  the  surrounding  surface ;  but  traces  of  them 
are  still  distinctly  visible  in  the  descent  of  the  belt  of  squares  on  the  north 
side  of  Grand  Street  (which  lies  on  the  summit  of  the  hill),  extending 
from  Clinton  to  Goerck  Streets.  .The  material  taken  from  these  hills 
was  used  in  levelling  and  grading  the  remainder  of  the  district,  and  in 
extending  it  out  to  its  present  water  line  on  the  East  River.  By  this 
process  of  "  fdling  in,"  about  eleven  squares  of  ground  were  added  to  the 
district,  and  a  good  straight  water  front  was  gained,  with  a  depth  of 
water  capable  of  accommodating  the  largest  vessels. 

By  referring  to  the  Sanitary  Map  of  the  city,  it  will  be  seen  that  tho 
high-water  line  originally  crossed  Grand  Street  near  Goerck,  and  passed 
westward,  almost  to  Cannon  Street.  It  will  be  observed  that  a  space  of 
nearly  four  belts  of  squares  has  been  reclaimed  from  the  river. 

"With  the  exception  of  the  alterations  just  described,  the  district  still 


MEDICAL  TOPOGRAPHY  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  WAED. 


Ill 


retains  its  natural  formation.  There  are  no  records  of  any  streams 
or  collections  of  water  ever  having  existed  on  its  surface ;  though  it  is 
presumed  that  nearly  the  whole  of  the  district  was  once  covered  by  the 
river,  from  the  fact  that  the  wells  which  were  dug  on  it  anywhere,  except 
on  the  hills  referred  to  above,  furnished  water  which  was  decidedly  brack- 
ish to  the  taste,  and  contained  a  perceptible  amount  of  salt. 

Geology. — The  soil  of  the  level  part  of  the  district  is  a  fine  red  sand, 
quite  free  from  stones,  and  affording  good  drainage  to  a  surface  which 
would  otherwise  be  constantly  wet,  on  account  of  its  not  having  sufficient 
descent  toward  the  river.  The  soil  of  the  elevated  portion  is  a  coarse 
gravel,  mixed  with  stones,  from  a  few  pounds  to  half  a  ton  in  weight. 
This  latter  part  of  the  ground  has  sufficient  slope  to  afford  complete  drain- 
age to  the  surface,  and  prevent  the  accumulation  of  water  and  filth  on  the 
streets.  For  the  above  reasons  the  insalubrity  of  the  district  cannot  be 
charged  fairly  on  its  topography. 

Streets. — The  streets  run  east  and  west,  and  north  and  south,  and 
are  of  very  good  width.  They  are  all  paved  with  cobble  stones,  except 
Grand  Street,  which  is  covered  with  trap-block  pavement.  The  condition 
of  the  pavement  is  moderately  good,  but  the  streets  are  generally  in  a 
filthy  and  unwholesome  condition  ;  especially  in  front  of  the  tenant-houses, 
from  which  the  garbage  and  slops  are,  to  a  great  extent,  thrown  into  the 
streets,  where  they  putrefy,  rendering  the  air  offensive  to  the  smell  and 
deleterious  to  health.  The  refuse  of  the  bedrooms  of  those  sick  with 
typhoid  and  scarlet  fevers  and  small-pox,  is  frequently  thrown  into  the 
streets,  there  to  contaminate  the  air,  and,  no  doubt,  aid  in  the  spread  of 
those  pestilential  diseases. 

Sewerage. — About  half  of  the  district  is  provided  with  capacious 
brick  sewers,  which  are  apparently  well  built  and  in  good  order,  and 
empty  into  the  East  River  below  tide-water.  A  very  small  proportion  of 
the  dwelling-houses  are  connected  with  the  sewers,  so  that  their  effect 
upon  the  insalubrity  of  the  houses  must  be  mainly  negative.  Their  gen- 
eral effect  upon  the  public  health  is  doubtless  good,  inasmuch  as  they 
assist  in  the  drainage  of  the  surface. 

Squares. — The  district  is  composed  of  49  squares  ;  about  one-third 
of  which  are  in  good,  one-half  in  a  mixed,  and  the  remainder  in  a 
bad  sanitary  condition.  Those  which  are  decidedly  insalubrious  are 
rendered  so  by  the  lowncss  of  the  ground,  insufficient  sewerage,  unsuit- 
able dwellings  (which  are  overcrowded  by  a  careless  and  ignorant  class 
of  occupants),  neglected  privies  in  too  close  proximity  to  the  dwellings, 
and  the  filthincss  of  the  streets. 

Inhabitants. — The  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants  belong  to  the 


112 


REPORT  OF  THE  TENTH  SAXITARY  DISTRICT. 


working  class,  who  depend  upon  their  weekly  income  of  their  lahor  for 
the  support  of  themselves  and  families.  Fully  one-half  of  the  males  be- 
long to  the  laboring  class ;  the  rest  are  mechanics  and  tradesmen. 
There  is  also  a  large  number  of  females  who  earn  their  living  as  opera- 
tives in  factories  in  this  and  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  city.  The  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  are  Irish.  The  Germans  rank  next,  and  Americans 
last.  The  greater  number  of  all  these  belong  to  the  poorer  and  more 
ignorant  classes  of  the  community,  and  are  careless  in  their  habits,  and  re- 
gardless of  the  appearance  and  healthfulness  of  their  domiciles.  They 
are,  of  course,  pliable  instruments  in  the  hands  of  designing  politicians  and 


demagogues. 
Buildings. — 

Total  number  of  buildings,   1,732 

Private  dwellings,   1,327 

Rear  buildings,   323 

Tenant-houses,   405 

Liquor  saloons,   188 

Brothels,   9 

Factories,   85 

Churches  and  other  public  buildings,   1G 

Coal  and  lumber  yards,   31 

Store-houses,   17 

Stables,   87 

Slaughter-houses,   none. 


Nearly  three-fourths  of  the  whole  number  of  buildings  are  private 
dwellings.  Most  of  the  private  residences  have  been  built  at  least  twenty 
years.  The  majority  of  them  are  built  of  brick,  some  of  wood,  and  others 
still  are  frame  buildings  with  brick  fronts.  They  are  mostly  deficient  in 
the  conveniences  and  comforts  of  dwellings  of  more  modern  date,  such  as 
baths,  gas,  and  sewer-connections,  etc.,  but  in  their  appointments  for 
health,  such  as  capacity,  size  of  apartments  and  dormitories,  ventilation, 
drainage,  heating,  etc.,  they  present  few  objectionable  features,  and  in- 
deed are,  in  some  respects,  superior  to  many  buildings  of  more  recent 
date.  A  little  over  one-fourth  are  tenant-houses.  Their  general  character 
as  regards  location,  age,  size,  drainage,  water  supply,  etc.,  is  bad.  They 
generally  occupy  too  much  of  the  lots  on  which  they  arc  built ;  arc  not 
connected  with  the  sewers,  therefore  the  garbage  and  refuse  from  them  are 
to  a  great  extent  thrown  into  the  streets  and  alleys.  Many  have  an  in- 
sufficient supply  of  water,  sometimes  from  20  to  40  families  depending 
upon  a  single  hydrant  in  the  yard.    Many  arc  densely  crowded  ;  some  by 


PREVAILING  DISEASES. — REACTIVE  EVILS. 


113 


a  careless  and  shiftless  class  of  people.  They  generally  have  very  insuf- 
ficient means  of  ventilation,  and  very  often  where  these  means  are  ample, 
the  only  obtainable  air  is  poisoned  by  the  odors  from  the  filthy  streets  and 
offensive  privies. 

Nuisances. — There  are  no  slaughter-houses,  fat-boiling  establish- 
ments, or  other  such  public  nuisances  in  the  district,  nor  are  any  of  the 
numerous  factories  in  the  district  devoted  to  any  business  which  is  delete- 
rious to  the  public  health. 

Diseases. — The  most  prominent  diseases  during  the  past  year  have 
been  phthisis,  typhoid  and  scarlet  fevers,  cholera-infantum,  dysentery, 
small-pox,  and  diphtheria.  It  would  be  impossible  to  specify  the  exact 
localities  of  all  these  cases  of  disease,  but  it  may  be  stated,  in  a  general 
way,  that  they  were  most  prevalent  in  that  part  of  the  district  which  is 
bounded  by  Broome,  Bivington,  and  Ridge  Streets,  and  the  East  River. 
This  is  also,  in  every  respect,  the  poorest  part  of  the  district,  having  the 
lowest  ground,  the  filthiest  streets,  and  the  most  dense  population  of  poor 
and  careless  people,  who  are  crowded  in  the  numerous  tenant-houses, 
shanties,  and  small  dwellings,  which  were  built  for  one  or  two  families, 
but  are  now  made  to  contain  from  5  to  10. 

Causes  of  Insalubrity. — The  high  rate  of  sickness  and  mortality 
among  the  people  of  this  district,  is  undoubtedly  attributable  to  two  gen- 
eral causes,  viz. : 

1st.  Their  insalubrious  surroundings,  such  as  the  filthy  streets,  deficient 
sewerage,  neglected  privies,  overcrowded  and  ill-ventilated  dwellings,  and 
deficiency  of  water  supply ;  and  2d.  The  ignorant  and  careless  habits  of 
the  people  themselves.  Any  measures  that  may  be  adopted  for  improving 
the  sanitary  condition  of  the  district  will  meet  with  only  partial  success, 
or  must  fail  altogether,  unless  they  are  directed  to  the  removal  of  both 
these  causes.  The  condition  of  the  poorer  classes  would  be  but  slightly 
improved  by  their  removal  to  the  most  perfect  dwellings  that  could  be 
constructed,  if  they  took  their  present  habits  with  them,  and  were  al- 
lowed to  disregard  personal  and  domiciliary  cleanliness ;  to  close  all 
avenues  for  the  ingress  of  good  and  the  exit  of  bad  air,  and  to  eat  their 
unwholesome  and  badly-prepared  food.  Then,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  instill  good  habits,  intelligence,  and  morality  into 
people  who  live  in  the  contracted  and  unventilated  apartments  of  over- 
crowded and  closely-packed  houses,  filled  with  the  noisome  odors  arising 
from  streets  reeking  with  filth,  or  from  neglected  privies  and  court  yards. 

Both  this  proposition  and  its  converse  are  true,  that  to  improve  the 
health  of  the  people,  we  must  improve  their  physical  and  their  moral 
habits. 

8 


Ill  REPORT  OF  THE  TENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT 

Remedial  Measures. — In  order  to  remove  the  first  of  the  causes 
referred  to  above,  and  render  the  district  salubrious,  the  streets  should 
be  paved  with  Belgian  or  block  pavement,  and  have  a  greater  elevation 
in  the  central  axis  of  the  street  than  at  present.  This  pavement  should 
be  kept  in  good  repair  and  cleaned  as  often  as  twice  or  three  times  a 
week.  The  gutters  should  be  cleaned  every  day.  Garbage-boxes  have 
been  shown  to  be  deleterious  to  health,  as  well  as  offensive  to  the  senses, 
and  should  be,  therefore,  abolished.  The  present  system  of  disposing  of 
garbage  would  probably  be  comparatively  unobjectionable  if  it  were 
faithfully  practiced. 

There  ought  to  be  capacious  sewers  in  all  the  streets,  with  which 
every  house  containing  more  than  two  families  should  be  connected.  The 
rate  of  populating  them  ought  to  be  limited  by  law,  on  the  same  principle 
and  by  the  same  right  that  the  law  interferes  in  the  crowding  of  passen- 
ger ships. 

There  is  need  of  thorough  reform  in  the  construction  and  care  of  ten- 
ant-houses. New  architectural  designs  should  be  produced,  in  which 
there  shall  be  displayed  some  care  for  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  ten- 
ants, instead  of  those  now  in  vogue,  which  were  devised  exclusively  for 
the  profit  of  the  owners. 

In  general,  only  one  house  should  be  built  on  each  lot,  and  that  of 
such  dimensions  that  sufficient  space  would  be  reserved  for  yard,  play- 
ground, privies,  etc. 

The  houses  ought  not  to  be  more  than  four  stories  in  height,  with  high 
ceilings,  large  open  fire-places,  capacious  rooms,  halls,  and  stairways. 
The  stairways  should  be  placed  in  the  front  or  rear  part  of  the  building, 
so  that  windows  could  open  upon  them,  and  furnish  them  and  the  halls 
with  sufficient  light  and  air.  They  are  now  mostly  in  the  centre  of  the 
houses,  where  they  are  excluded  from  the  light,  and  arc  dark,  damp,  and 
unventilatcd.  No  more  than  two  families  should  be  allowed  to  occupy 
each  floor,  so  that  ventilation  could  be  insured  through  each  apartment, 
either  from  front  to  rear  or  from  side  to  side  of  the  house.  There  should 
be  an  ample  supply  of  water  on  each  floor.  The  privies  would  be  pref- 
erably located  in  the  yard,  if  they  were  connected  with  the  sewers.  A 
good  plan  has  been  lately  adopted  of  entrusting  the  care  of  the  house  and 
the  cleansing  of  the  halls,  stairways,  yard,  etc.,  to  a  tenant  who  performs 
such  duties  in  payment  of  his  rent. 

Authority  should  be  given  to  Health  Wardens  to  close  and  remove  a 
building  that  has  become  insalubrious  in  consequence  of  its  having  be- 
come infected  with  pestilential  disease,  or  even  to  demolish  those  that  aro 
uninhabitable  on  account  of  their  age  and  want  of  repair.   By  this  means 


WHEKE  EEFOEMS  MUST  BEGEST. — THE  AGENCIES. 


115 


the  fever-nests  and  pest-houses  could  be  disinfected,  and  all  the  shanties 
and  filthy  rookeries  which  abound  in  this  district  could  be  removed. 

Now,  having  provided  good  dwellings  for  the  poor,  a  difficult  task  still 
remains  in  reforming  the  people  themselves,  in  changing  their  habits  and 
morals,  and  instructing  them  how  to  live  properly.  This  could,  to  some 
extent,  be  accomplished  by  getting  their  clergy  to  interest  themselves  in 
the  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  affairs  of  their  parishioners ;  by  the  em- 
ployment of  sanitary  missionaries  and  lecturers  among  them  ;  by  the  cir- 
culation of  cheap  newspapers,  or  by  the  insertion  in  the  papers  now  read 
by  them  of  short  readable  articles  that  will  teach  them  the  ordinary  rules 
of  health,  and  incite  them  to  habits  of  cleanliness  in  their  persons  and 
their  domiciles  ;  that  will  tell  them  how  to  prevent  disease,  how  to  cook, 
eat,  sleep,  and  dress,  and  show  them  the  value  of  good  air,  and  the  econ- 
omy of  eating  only  wholesome  and  properly-prepared  food. 

Having  thus  reformed  the  poorer  classes,  and  provided  suitable  dwell- 
ings for  them  to  live  in,  their  health  and  happiness  will  be  promoted,  the 
rate  of  mortality  be  diminished,  and  lasting  benefits  will  be  conferred  upon 
the  city  and  the  State. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

ELEVENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


JAMES.   L.   BROWN,   M.  D. 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — North  by  West  14th  Street,  east  by  Sixth  Avenue,  south 
by  Christopher  Street,  west  by  the  Hudson  River. 

This  district  includes  what  was  formerly  known  as  the  village  of 
Greenwich,  one  of  the  ancient  suburbs  of  the  city,  besides  other  localities 
of  greater  or  less  historic  interest.  Greenwich  village  was  situated  on 
the  shore  of  the  river  about  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  the  City  Hall,  and 
was  settled  at  a  comparatively  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  island. 
It  extended  from  Christopher  Street  about  as  far  north  as  Hammond  or 
Bank  Street,  and  was  for  many  years  the  seat  of  the  State  Prison,  which 
in  1828  was  removed  to  Sing  Sing.  A  part  of  the  old  prison  may  still 
be  seen  occupying  a  large  part  of  the  square  bounded  by  Washington, 
West,  Charles,  and  West  Tenth  Streets.  It  is  now  used  as  a  brewery, 
excepting  a  small  part  that  has  been  converted  into  tenements.  Further 
north,  at  the  corner  of  Washington  and  "  Little"  Twelfth  Streets,  on  what 
was  once  the  bank  of  the  river,  stood  "  old"  Fort  Gansevoort,  while  on 
the  square  bounded  by  Perry,  Charles,  Fourth,  and  Bleecker  Streets,  there 
still  remains  one  of  the  oldest  private  dwellings  on  the  island — the  Van 
Ness  House. 

This  part  of  the  island  has  always  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  for  salu- 
brity, which  was  doubtless  one  of  the  reasons  that  led  to  its  selection  in 
1793  as  a  site  for  the  prison.  During  the  prevalence  of  the  yellow  fever, 
on  the  occasion  of  its  third  visitation,  in  the  summer  of  1798,  when  busi- 
ness was  almost  entirely  suspended,  and  all  whoso  circumstances  would 
permit  had  fled  the  city,  the  village  of  Greenwich  was  a  favorite  and  E&fe 
retreat,  being  at  that  time  separated  from  the  city  by  nearly  a  mile  and  a 


rEmrnvE  character  and  present  condition  of  sueface.  117 

half  of  open  country.  Bank  Street  is  said  to  owe  its  name  to  the  circum- 
stance that  the  banks  were  removed  there  from  "Wall  Street  during  the 
prevalence  of  one  of  these  epidemics. 

Topography. — The  only  topographical  changes  of  any  importance 
that  have  taken  place  in  this  district,  as  indicated  by  the  old  maps,  and 
confirmed  by  the  statements  of  former  residents,  consist  in  the  reclaiming 
of  a  considerable  belt  of  ground  from  the  river,  and  the  cutting  away  of 
a  bill  wbich  extended  along  the  line  of  Greenwicb  and  Hudson  Streets 
fi-om  Christopber  Street  about  as  far  north  as  Bethune  Street.  No  water- 
course, or  pond,  or  marsh  of  any  kind  is  known  to  have  existed  within  its 
limits,  nor  is  there  any  made  ground  except  that  which  has  been  reclaimed 
from  the  river.  The  original  shore  of  the  river  extended  a  considerable 
distance  within  the  present  line  of  piers,  jutting  in  between  Bank  and 
Gansevoort  Streets  nearly  as  far  as  Greenwicb  Street.  All  of  the  houses 
in  West  Street,  and  about  two-thirds  of  those  in  Washington  Street,  stand 
on  made  ground. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  State  Geological  Survey,  this  part  of 
the  city  is  built  upon  drift  deposits ;  the  soil  consisting  chiefly  of  loam, 
gravel,  sand,  pebbles,  etc.  Nowhere  in  the  district  does  the  rock  approach 
within  50  feet  of  the  surface.  In  boring  for  a  well  on  the  corner  of  Wa- 
verly  Place  and  Perry  Street,  the  rock  was  struck  at  a  depth  of  70  feet. 
Other  borings  showed  an  increase  of  depth  in  the  direction  of  the  river, 
and  a  decrease  toward  the  centre  of  the  island  along  the  line  of  Broad- 
way, and  also  to  the  northward. 

Drainage. — Nearly  the  whole  surface  of  the  district  slopes  gently 
toward  the  river,  affording  an  excellent  surface-drainage.  The  greatest 
elevation  is  in  Fourth  Street,  in  the  vicinity  of  Hammond  and  Perry 
Streets,  where  it  is  27  feet  above  tide-water  ;  and  the  lowest  is  along  the 
line  of  West  Street,  where  it  is  only  4  feet. 

In  considering  the  topographical  conditions  of  this  district  with  re- 
spect to  their  influence  on  the  public  health,  there  appears  to  be  nothing 
that  can  be  regarded  as  prejudicial.  Even  the  houses  situated  on  the  newly- 
made  ground  along  the  river  do  not  appear  to  be  less  salubrious  than 
others. 

Streets. — The  number  of  streets  included  wholly  or  in  part  within 
this  district  is  28,  of  which  14  pursue  a  nearly  westerly  direction  toward 
the  river,  the  others  intersecting  them  at  various  angles.  Their  width 
between  the  opposite  buildings  varies  from  50  to  100  feet,  about  one-half 
not  exceeding  the  former  number.  The  widest  are  Hudson  and  Fourteenth 
Streets,  and  the  Avenues  from  the  Sixth  to  Eleventh.  As  there  are  very 
few  high  buildings  in  any  of  the  narrower  streets,  their  general  condition 


IIS  REPORT  OF  THE  ELEVENTH  SAOTTARY  DISTRICT. 

with  respect  to  ventilation  and  sunlight  is  very  fair.  With  hut  two  or 
three  exceptions,  they  are  all  paved  with  cohble  stones,  and  vary  much 
as  regards  their  cleanliness  and  state  of  repair. 

In  some  parts  of  the  district,  as  for  instance  in  West,  Washington, 
Little  Twelfth,  and  Gansevoort  Streets,  they  are  always  filthy,  being  but 
seldom  cleaned,  and  then  very  imperfectly.  In  other  localities,  where  it 
is  the  custom  for  each  family  to  keep  the  street  in  front  of  its  own 
door  always  cleanly  swept,  their  condition  is  very  good.  The  influence 
which  the  streets  may  exercise  upon  the  public  health  is  generally 
dependent  upon  three  circumstances,  viz. :  their  width,  the  kind  and 
condition  of  their  pavement,  and  their  cleanliness.  On  the  score 
of  width  there  is  not  much  to  complain  of  in  this  district,  but 
with  respect  to  the  other  two  points  there  is  room  for  considerable 
improvement.  That  cities  with  cobble-stone  pavements  are  less  healthy 
than  those  paved  with  cubical  blocks,  is  a  fact  that  has  long  been  known,  and 
is  now  universally  conceded.  The  reason  is  obvious  :  the  irregular  inter- 
spaces between  the  stones  afford  a  lodgment  to  various  animal  and 
vegetable  matters  which  are  never  reached  by  the  broom  of  the  sweeper, 
and  which,  decomposing  under  the  action  of  the  summer  sun,  give  origin 
to  those  poisonous  emanations  that  render  the  atmosphere  of  large  cities 
so  unwholesome  in  warm  weather.  But  this  is  a  trifling  evil  in  com- 
parison with  those  resulting,  not  from  any  defect  in  the  pavement,  but 
from  the  accumulations  of  filth  reposing  upon  it,  and  due  to  an  utter  want 
of  any  proper  system  of  street  cleaning.  Upon  this  point,  however,  it  is 
unnecessary  here  to  dilate.  The  effect  of  dirty  streets  upon  the  public 
health  is  too  well  known,  and  too  often  insisted  upon,  to  need  any  expo- 
sition in  this  report.  It  will  suffice  to  state  that  the  largest  number  of 
cases  of  cholera  infantum,  cholera  morbus,  and  kindred  disease,  is  always 
found  in  localities  where  the  streets  are  dirtiest. 

Sewerage. — The  sewerage  in  this  district  is  defective  both  in  quantity 
and  quality ;  some  of  the  streets  having  none  at  all,  and  the  sewers 
now  in  existence,  displaying,  according  to  the  testimony  of  competent 
engineers,  "  a  sad  want  of  forethought  and  engineering  knowledge."  In 
this  respect,  however,  they  do  not  differ  from  sewers  generally  throughout 
the  city.  Eleven  streets  are  sewered  throughout  their  whole  extent ; 
five  not  at  all ;  and  the  remainder  only  on  occasional  blocks.  Their 
outlet  is  generally  below  high-water  mark ;  but  to  this  there  is  one 
exception  which  is  of  special  interest  as  illustrating  the  pernicious 
influence  which  imperfect  or  obstructed  sewerage  may  exercise  upon  the 
public  health.  The  sewer  through  Gansevoort  Street  extends  no  fur- 
ther than  West  Street,  all  the  ground  between  this  street  and  the  river 


AN  OUTBKEAK  OF  TYPHOID  FEVEE  AND  DYSENTERY. — CAUSES.  119 

having  been  made  since  the  sewer  was  built — most  of  it,  indeed,  within 
the  past  year. 

From  the  terminus  of  the  sewer,  through  this  newly-made  ground,  an 
irregular,  narrow,  open  channel  has  been  rudely  excavated,  by  which  it 
appears  to  have  been  intended  that  the  contents  of  the  sewer  should  reach 
the  river.  In  point  of  fact,  however,  they  never  do  so.  From  the  fall- 
ing in  of  its  sides,  and  other  like  causes,  this  channel  becomes  constantly 
obstructed,  and  the  flow  of  the  sewage  impeded.  Independent,  however, 
of  any  such  obstruction,  the  result  must  practically  be  the  same  ;  for  long 
before  the  contents  of  the  sewer  could  reach  the  water's  edge,  their  fluid 
portion  would  be  absorbed  by  the  loose  ground  beneath,  and  the  solid  resi- 
due be  left  on  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  channel.  And  this  is  precisely 
what  has  been  taking  place  here  for  several  months,  until  this  new  ground 
has  become  very  thoroughly  saturated. 

Of  the  effect  of  this  state  of  things  upon  the  public  health  we  may  form 
some  notion  from  the  following  facts :  The  only  square  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  containing  any  dwellings,  is  that  bounded  by  Gansevoort,  West, 
Washington,  and  Horatio  Streets.  Until  within  the  last  year  this  has 
justly  been  considered  one  of  the  healthiest  in  the  city,  old  residents  of 
fifteen  to  eighteen  years'  standing  testifying  to  its  uniform  salubrity. 
About  the  middle  of  July,  through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Wm.  C.  Hunter, 
my  attention  was  called  to  this  locality  on  account  of  the  unusual  amount 
of  sickness  that  had  come  to  his  knowledge  while  in  attendance  upon  some 
patients  in  the  neighborhood.  I  at  once  made  a  careful  inspection  of 
the  square,  examining  every  house,  and  interrogating  every  family  ;  and 
ascertained  that  no  less  than  29  cases  of  dysentery  and  diarrhoea,  5  of 
which  had  terminated  fatally,  had  occurred  during  the  three  weeks  immedi- 
ately preceding  my  inspection. 

Now,  when  we  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  there  are  only 
twenty-two  dwellings  on  this  square  (a  considerable  portion  of  it  being  oc- 
cupied by  a  large  lumber  yard),  and  that  all  these  cases  had  occurred 
within  a  period  of  about  twenty-one  days,  the  ratio  becomes  appalling. 
How  many  cases  may  have  occurred  subsequently,  I  have  not  sought  to 
ascertain,  my  time  being  fully  occupied  in  the  inspection  of  the  other  parts 
of  my  district.  But  a  still  more  direct  and  specific  action  of  the  poison 
ous  emanations  proceeding  from  this  obstructed  sewage,  manifested 
itself  in  the  dwelling  on  the  corner  of  West  and  Gansevoort  Streets, 
which  is  in  the  closest  proximity  to  the  outlet  of  the  sewer.  Here  I 
learned,  vpon  inquiry,  that  typhoid  fever  had  prevailed  almost  continuously 
during  the  preceding  winter,  and  I  found  three  severe  cases  of  dysentery  at 
the  time  of  my  visit. 


120 


REPORT  OF  THE  ELEVENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


These  facts  require  no  comment. 

Squares. — The  number  of  squares  in  the  Eleventh  District  is  84,  of 
which  about  one-half  are  in  a  very  good  sanitary  condition,  one-eighth  in 
a  bad  sanitary  condition,  and  the  remaining  three-eighths  intermediate. 
As  an  example  of  a  square  in  a  very  good  sanitary  condition  may  be 
mentioned  that  bounded  by  Thirteenth  and  Twelfth  Streets,  Sixth  and 
Seventh  Avenues,  while  one  of  a  directly  opposite  character  maybe  found 
between  the  same  streets  and  Ninth  and  Tenth  Avenues.  The  circum- 
stances determining  the  sanitary  condition  of  a  square  depend  mainly  upon 
its  topographical  peculiarities,  the  condition  of  its  Streets,  its  sewerage 
and  drainage,  the  kind  and  condition  of  its  dwellings,  the  character  of  its 
population,  its  proximity  to  any  marked  source  of  insalubrity,  etc.  It  is 
with  reference  to  these  points  that  the  above  classification  has  been 
made. 

Population. — The  population  df  this  district  probably  contains  a 
larger  proportion  of  native-born  residents  than  that  of  any  other  in  the 
city,  unless,  perhaps,  we  may  except  the  Fifteenth  Ward,  which  was 
originally  included  in  the  Ninth.  The  Knickerbocker  element  is  widely 
diffused,  and  exercises  no  small  influence  in  maintaining  the  high  repu- 
tation for  salubrity  which  the  Ninth  Ward  has  always  enjoyed.  There 
are  very  few  wealthy  families,  and  comparatively  few  of  the  very  poor  or 
vicious.  The  great  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  consists  of  what  may  be 
called  the  middle  class  of  people,  composed  mainly  of  trades-people, 
clerks,  mechanics  of  the  better  class,  cartmen,  etc. 

Buildings. — Of  the  buildings,  the  great  majority  are  dwelling-houses, 
the  chief  exceptions  being  along  the  line  of  the  river,  where  iron  foundries, 
factories  of  various  kinds,  steam  sawmills  and  planing  mills,  lumber, 
coal,  and  stone  yards,  etc.,  occupy  most  of  the  squares  fronting  on  the 
water. 

Dwellings. — The  number  of  dwellings  is  2,205,  of  which  484  may 
be  considered  tenant-houses.  It  has  been  a  source  of  no  little  embarrass- 
ment to  determine  Avhere  the  line  of  demarcation  between  private  dwell- 
ings and  tenant-houses  should  be  drawn,  so  gradual  is  the  transition  from 
first-class  private  residences  to  tenements  of  the  lowest  grade.  About 
four-fifths  of  the  tenant-houses  in  this  district  were  originally  private 
dwellings  of  a  very  respectable  character,  which  have  gradually  degen- 
erated into  tenements  of  the  worst  description,  because  never  designed  for 
more  than  one  family.  It  is  during  this  state  of  transition,  while  they 
have  ceased  to  be  very  good,  but  arc  not  yet  very  bad,  that  it  is  difficult 
to  classify  them.  By  tenant-houses  are  meant,  in  the  present  report,  all 
those  originally  designed  as  such,  and  all  others  once  used  as  private 


TENANT-HOUSES  AND  OTHEK  DWELLINGS  IN  NINTH  WARD.  121 


dwellings,  but  now  occupied  by  more  than  three  families.  This  classifi- 
cation is,  of  course,  purely  arbitrary,  and  open  to  some  objections,  but  I 
have  met  with  none  better. 

Private  Dwellings. — The  private  residences,  of  which  there  are 
1.721,  present  the  widest  differences  in  respect  of  age,  size,  materials  of 
structure,  and  other  particulars.  Of  first-class  modern  houses,  the  num- 
ber is  comparatively  small,  by  far  the  larger  proportion  being  two-and-a- 
half  and  three-story  brick  dwellings,  from  twenty  to  forty  years'  old,  and 
occupied  more  frequently  by  two  or  three  families  than  by  one.  There  is 
quite  a  number  of  frame  buildings,  many  of  them  in  an  excellent  state  of 
preservation.  All  the  dwellings  are  supplied  with  Croton-water,  most 
of  them  lighted  with  gas  and  heated  by  stoves  ;  while  about  one-half  have 
drains  connecting  with  the  sewers.  The  water-closets  are  almost  always 
in  the  yards. 

Tenant-Houses. — The  tenant-houses,  which  constitute  a  little  more 
than  one-fifth  of  all  the  dwellings,  differ  quite  as  widely  from  each  other 
as  the  private  residences.  As  already  stated,  at  least  four-fifths  of  them 
are  private  dwellings,  in  reduced  circumstances,  and  particularly  ill- 
adapted  to  the  accommodation  of  a  number  of  families.  The  more  modern 
tenements  are  generally  large  brick  buildings,  four  or  five  stories  high, 
and  intended  to  accommodate  either  two  or  four  families  on  a  floor,  ac- 
cording to  the  size  of  the  lot  or  the  class  of  tenants  for  whom  they  are 
designed.  Each  family  has  usually  one  room  and  bedroom,  sometimes  a 
room  and  two  bedrooms,  and  occasionally  only  a  single  room.  These 
rooms  vary  in  size  in  different  houses,  but  the  following  measurements 
may  be  taken  as  a  fair  average  :  The  main  room  12  feet  in  width  by  15 
in  length,  and  8  or  9  in  height.  The  bedrooms  of  the  same  height,  and 
about  7  X  9  in  the  other  measurements.  The  sleeping-rooms  are  very 
commonly  what  are  called  "  dark  bedrooms,"  i.  e.,  rooms  without  any 
windows  opening  externally,  and  consequently  badly  lighted,  and  very  im- 
perfectly ventilated.  There  is  generally  a  supply  of  Croton-water  on 
each  floor,  sometimes  in  the  apartments,  but  more  frequently  in  the  halls, 
with  drains  for  the  waste  water  connecting  with  the  sewers.  The  water- 
closets  are  almost  invariably  in  the  yards,  frequently  inadequate,  and 
commonly  quite  filthy.  The  cellars  generally  contain  the  coal-bins  and 
wood-houses.  The  garbage  is  left  on  the  sidewalk  for  collection, 
sometimes  in  a  common  garbage-box,  but  in  this  district  much  more  fre- 
quently in  vessels  or  boxes  belonging  to  the  different  families. 

To  illustrate  the  most  favorable  features  of  any  of  the  tenant-houses 
I  have  seen,  and  at  the  same  time  to  present  for  commendation  a  most 
laudable  example  of  what  is  practicable  and  entirely  successful  as  an  im- 


122 


EEPOET  OF  THE  ELEVENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


provement  in  an  ordinary  tenant-house,  the  following  diagram  and  notes 
are  copied  from  my  Record  of  Inspections  : 

No.  89  Perry  Street  is  a  large  brick 
building,  28  feet  in  width,  5  stories  in 
height  (each  story  averaging  nearly  10 
feet  between  ceilings),  and  accommo- 
dating 20  families  (4  families  on  a 
floor) .  Notwithstanding  the  large  num- 
ber of  families  occupying  the  house,  it 
is  so  much  superior,  in  some  of  its 
features,  to  other  tenant-houses,  that  I 
have  thought  it  worthy  of  special  de- 
scription. 

The  accompanying  diagram  is  de- 
signed to  show  the  arrangement  of  the 
rooms  on  each  floor,  and  particularly 
the  means  resorted  to  for  securing  letter 
ventilation  than  usual.  Each  family 
has  three  rooms  (marked  in  the  dia- 
gram S  D  K)  :  S  is  a  large  sitting  or 
living-room  ;  D  is  a  bedroom  or  dormi- 
tory ;  and  K  the  kitchen.  The  sitting- 
room  and  kitchen  have  each  an  inde- 
pendent entrance  into  the  main  hall. 
The  bedrooms  are  reached  either  through 
the  sitting-rooms  or  kitchens.  .  .  . 
Every  apartment  has  a  window  or  win- 
dows directly  to  the  external  air.     .  . 

There  is  a  supply  of  Croton-water 
in  every  kitchen,  with  good  drainage. 
There  is  no  garbage-box,  each  family  deb  vers  over  to  the  collector  its  own 
garbage,  so  that  the  street  in  front  of  this  house  is  as  clean  as  before  any 
private  dwelling.  The  halls  are  kept  clean  by  a  woman  employed  for  that 
purpose  by  the  landlord.  The  families  are  all  of  a  good  character,  and 
their  rooms  are  generally  comfortably  furnished  and  well  kept.  This 
house,  as  might  be  expected,  has  been  very  free  from  sickness.* 

Nearly  one-fifth  of  all  the  tenements  are  rear  buildings,  somo  of  them 
of  the  lowest  grade.  They  are  generally  contracted  in  size,  very  imper- 
fectly ventilated,  shut  out  in  a  great  measure  from  the  reach  of  the  sud- 

*  Copied  from  pages  70  and  71  of  the  Inspector's  Sanitary  Record  of  the  Eleventh 
District. 


Impsoted  Tenajtt-IIouse. 


S  8  Sltting-Eooms. 
K  K  Kitchens. 
D  D  Dormitories. 


TENANT-HOUSES. — CELLAR-POPULATION. — NUISANCES.  123 


light,  and  commonly  an  obstruction  to  light  and  ventilation  in  the  front 
buildings.  The  interval  between  the  front  and  rear  house  is  frequently 
so  small,  and  sometimes  so  completely  enclosed  on  all  its  sides  by  the  adja- 
cent houses,  as  to  constitute  a  mere  well-hole.  A  very  fair  illustration 
of  this  maybe  seen  at  No.  98  Hammond  Street.  But  the  worst  feature  of 
all  in  connection  with  tenant-houses  is  one  less  frequently  met  with  in  those 
of  modern  construction  than  in  dwellings  once  private,  but  now  occupied 
by  seven  or  eight  families ;  I  allude  to  the  occupancy  of  low  and  damp 
cellars.  At  Nos.  137,  139,  141,  and  143  Hammond  Street,  and  also  at 
No.  738  Washington  Street,  are  inhabited  cellars,  the  ceilings  of  which 
are  below  the  level  of  the  street,  inaccessible  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and 
always  damp  and  dismal.  Three  of  them  are  flooded  at  every  heavy 
rain,  and  require  to  be  baled  out.  They  are  let  at  a  somewhat  smaller 
rent  than  is  asked  for  apartments  on  an  upper  floor,  and  are  rented  by  those 
to  whom  poverty  leaves  no  choice.    They  are  rarely  vacant. 

Tenant-houses  differ  much  in  the  character  of  their  population  and  in 
their  cleanliness,  the  most  striking  contrasts  in  these  respects  being  ob- 
served among  those  of  equal  pretensions  in  other  particulars.  On  the 
corner  of  Thirteenth  Street  and  Tenth  Avenue  is  a  large  tenement 
containing  23  families,  the  halls  of  which  are  never  swept  or  other- 
wise cleaned  from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the  other.  A  like  condition 
exists  also  at  No.  4  Horatio  Street,  and  Nos.  125  and  127  Greenwich 
Avenue,  where  18  families  are  accommodated  ( ?)  in  each  house.  On 
the  other  hand,  at  No.  89  Perry  Street  we  have  seen  a  large  tenement, 
containing  20  families,  in  which  the  halls  as  well  as  the  apartments 
are  kept  as  clean  as  in  many  private  dwellings.  Other  things  being 
equal,  houses  differing  so  widely  in  point  of  cleanliness,  must  differ  in  a 
corresponding  degree  in  their  sanitary  condition. 

Drinking-Shops. — The  number  of  drinking-shops  in  the  Eleventh 
District  is  83,  besides  73  liquor-selling  groceries,  making  a  total  of  156 
places  where  liquors  are  retailed.  The  free  use  of  alcoholic  liquors, 
especially  of  such  a  quality  as  is  sold  in  these  stores,  is,  in  my  opinion, 
one  of  the  most  prolific  causes  of  disease  existing  among  us.  Being  in 
the  highest  degree  a  predisposing  as  well  as  an  exciting  cause  of  disease, 
it  is  justly  responsible  for  a  large  share  of  the  mortality  ascribed  to  other 
causes. 

SLAUGnxER-HouSES. — Of  slaughter-houses  there  are  12,  about  one- 
half  of  which  are  situated  on  the  squares  fronting  on  the  river,  and  not  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  any  dwelling.  They  arc  generally  in  good  con- 
dition, and  probably  as  well  kept  as  is  practicable  ;  nevertheless  they  are 


124 


REPORT  OF  THE  ELEVENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


inevitably  a  nuisance  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  and  should  be  provided 
for  by  some  special  municipal  legislation. 

Garbage-Boxes. — The  only  other  nuisance  to  "which  I  would  make 
allusion  in  this  place  is  one  that  lias  already  been  made  a  subject  of  spe- 
cial report  by  the  corps  of  Sanitary  Inspectors,  and  might,  therefore, 
escape  further  notice  if  attention  were  not  again  directed  to  it  in  the 
final  reports.  I  refer  to  garbage-boxes.  In  front  of  many  of  the  large 
tenant-houses  are  placed  on  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk  huge  wooden  boxes 
for  the  reception  of  all  the  ashes,  garbage,  etc.,  of  the  score  of  families 
within.  Not  unfrequently  one  box  does  double  duty  in  this  respect,  with- 
out, however,  being  always  of  double  size.  It  is  invariably  the  case  that 
where  these  boxes  exist,  the  streets  are  in  a  filthy  condition. 

Prevailtng  Diseases. — The  diseases  that  have  chiefly  prevailed  dur- 
ing the  past  season  are  dysentery,  diarrhoea,  cholera  morbus,  cholera  in- 
fantum, and  the  exanthematous  fevers.  They  Avere  of  most  frequent  oc- 
currence in  the  more  crowded  and  insalubrious  quarters.  Typhus  and 
typhoid  fevers  were  met  with  in  only  three  or  four  localities,  as,  for  in- 
stance, at  Fifteenth  and  Little  Twelfth  Streets,  No.  148  West  Tenth 
Street,  and  on  the  corner  of  Gansevoort  and  West  Streets.  They  seldom 
prevail  to  any  considerable  extent  in  this  district. 

Notwithstanding  the  existence  of  many  localities  in  a  bad  sanitary  con- 
dition, the  Ninth  Ward,  next  to  the  Fifteenth,  is  the  healthiest  in  the  city. 
It  has  been  a  very  common  experience  with  me  in  the  course  of  this  in- 
spection to  find  "  insalubrious  quarters  where  the  constant  sickness  rate 
has  been  slight,"  and  I  have  generally  explained  the  fact  on  the  ground 
that  in  this  district  these  quarters  are  usually  isolated,  having  surround- 
ings of  a  good  character,  which  by  a  sort  of  diluting  agency  exercise  a 
protective  influence  over  them.  In  other  words,  their  evils  are  not  con- 
centrated as  in  other  sections  of  the  city.  The  proximity,  too,  of  the  worst 
localities  to  the  river,  whereby  they  receive  a  larger  supply  of  fresh  air 
than  would  otherwise  be  the  case,  is  likewise  a  source  of  protection. 

Remedial  Measures. — Having  now  considered  the  various  points 
to  which  attention  was  given  in  this  inspection,  it  only  remains  to  suggest 
as  briefly  as  possible  some  remedial  measures  applicable  to  the  different 
cases : 

1.  There  should  be  a  more  general  and  more  perfect  system  of 
sewerage. 

2.  The  streets  should  be  paved  with  cubical  blocks  in  place  of  cobble 
stones,  and  some  efficient  means  adopted  for  keeping  them  clean. 

3.  The  whole  system  of  garbage-boxes  should  be  abolished  as  only 
tending  to  aggravate  the  evils  it  was  designed  to  remedy. 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. — SUPERVISION  NEEDED. 


125 


4.  Tenant-houses  should  be  constructed  with  special  reference  to  per- 
fect ventilation,  free  access  of  the  sunlight,  proper  drainage,  and  well- 
devised  and  well-kept  water-closets.  If  possible,  some  measures  should 
be  adopted  to  prevent  the  overcrowding  to  which  nearly  all  tenements  are 
liable. 

5.  The  erection  of  rear  tenements  on  ordinary-sized  lots  should  be 
prohibited  by  law. 

6.  Greater  restrictions  should  be  placed  on  the  sale  of  alcoholic  liquors, 
and  severe  penalties  enforced  for  the  vending  of  adulterated  liquors. 

7.  Slaughter-houses  should  not  be  tolerated  in  densely-populated 
districts. 

8.  The  preservation  of  a  good  sanitary  condition  in  this,  or  any  other 
district,  requires  the  constant  supervision  of  a  properly  qualified  inspector, 
invested  with  power  to  enforce  such  measures  as  may  be  needful.  The 
foregoing  are  the  principal  remedies  that  have  occurred  to  me  in  connec- 
tion with  these  subjects.    The  following  is  a  brief  summary  : 


Summary. — Total  number  of  squares   84 

"  "       "  dwelling-houses,  2,205 

"  "       "  tenant       "    484 

"  «       "  rear          "    83 

"  "       "  liquor  stores   83 

"  "       "  liquor-selling  groceries   73 

"  "       "  slaughter-houses,   12 

"  "       "  livery  stables,   C 

"  "       "  churches   13 

"  M       "  school  edifices   5 


126 


KEPOKT  OF  THE  TWELFTH  SAOTTAEY  DISTEICT. 


Hg»  ss.ffe  SJ__ 


--40  I  'tO.D   

gff"^   TWELFTH  DISTRICT 

3.'-.  

\  53 


38.10  '  

FIFTEENTH  WARD 
ft  

39.0 


^^Hsiu^    WEr  MARSHY  IAHO 

38.10 


21  0  i 
HOUSTON  MB 


EXPLANATION  OF  FIGUKES,  ETC 
The  .ntcrruptcd  lines  in  streets  represent  the  Sewers.  ' 

ll: ; ,s  on  th* line  of  \ra  ™z  ^ — *■  h  Seeond  aw 

The  letter  c  «  «  „       connects        ^  Sewer  in  Avenue  C. 

The  letter  d  »  u  u  ™  the  East  River. 

The  letter  e  "  ii  „  .   „  „ 

The  letter/  <<  «  „  ?  f  Uouston  Strcet.       °Pcns  in  the  East  River, 

fron ,  Broadwav  westward,  south  to  Canal  StJ^Z^T  *  ^  ^  **  ^ 

£e  bSjiT^Sj^fZ:  tha!-emPtr  ^  f°0t  °f  ^  ^  *«*  *™ 
TW  I  ,        ;  ,  qUarCS  mdlcate  the  P°siti°n  of  the  sewer  culverts 

JXEZ  ^  thC8trCCt  iDtCr8eCUOnS  *  ^vationof  the  teT'at  that  point 

no  To^Zr  ithi"t,,,.rqUarC8  repreSCDt  th0  8trcet  numb™  of  the  comer  houses. 
The  configuration  of  lulls,  streams,  etc,  illustrates  the  primitive  topography. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

TWELFTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


F.   A.  BURRALL,  M.D. 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — The  Twelfth  District  embraces  that  portion  of  this  City 
bounded  north  by  Fourteenth  Street,  east  by  the  Bowery  and  Fourth  Avenue, 
south  by  Houston  Street,  and  west  by  Sixth  Avenue.  Those  are  also  the 
limits  of  the  Fifteenth  W ard. 

Topography. — The  original  surface  was  rolling  and  covered  princi- 
pally by  farms.  A  "  Sandy  Hill "  extended  from  near  the  junction  of 
Fifth  Avenue  and  Waverley  Place  eastward  to  the  Bowery,  and  there 
was  a  smaller  one  near  Broadway  and  Tenth  Street.  Art  Street  (which 
was  the  continuation  of  Astor  Place  into  Waverley,  as  far  as  near  Mac- 
dougal  Street,  where  it  joined  Greenwich  Lane)  took  its  name  of  "  Sandy 
Lane"  from  the  first  of  these  hills.  There  was  also  a  deep  dry  valley 
extending  from  Fourth  to  Houston  Street,  between  Macdougal  and  Woos- 
ter,  and  the  banks  were  high  along  the  upper  portion  of  Minetta  Creek. 
The  highest  street  corners  in  the  district  are  at  the  junction  of  Elizabeth 
and  Houston  Streets ;  the  lowest,  West  Washington  Place  and  Sixth 
Avenue,  being  respectively  45  feet  11  inches  and  14  feet  5  inches  above 
tide  level. 

The  stream,  Minetta  Creek,  traversed  nearly  the  whole  length  of  the 
Fifteenth  Ward,  and  arose  by  an  eastern  branch  in  Fifth  Avenue,  be- 
tween Twenty-first  and  Twenty-second  Streets,  and  by  a  western,  in  Sixth 
Avenue  nearly  opposite  the  northeasterly  corner  of  Sixteenth  Street. 
The  western  branch  took  a  southeasterly  course  to  the  northwest  corner 
of  Ninth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  receiving  two  small  branches  in  the 
square  now  lying  between  Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Streets,  Fifth  and  Sixth 


128 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWELFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Avenues.  Continuing  its  course  as  far  as  Eighth  Street,  it  turned  in  a 
southwesterly  direction,  and  crossing  Washington  Square,  passed  through 
or  very  near  to  Minetta  Street,  emptying  at  last  into  the  North  River,  near 
the  junction  of  Washington  and  Hamersley  Streets.  The  lower  portion 
of  the  creek  was  also  termed  Bestaver's  Killitje. 

The  eastern  branch  pursued  a  southerly  direction  to  a  point  near  the 
southwest  corner  of  Fourteenth  Street  and  University  Place,  then  curving 
to  the  southwest,  it  crossed  the  junction  of  Twelfth  Street  and  Fifth  Av- 
enue, and  emptied  into  the  western  branch  at  a  short  distance  south  of  the 
lower  side  of  Twelfth  Street,  and  about  one-third  of  the  distance  between 
Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues.  This  stream,  and  the  springs  which  supplied 
it,  have  been  occasionally  the  cause  of  many  damp  and  wet  cellars,  but 
this  evil  has  been  remedied  to  a  great  extent  by  the  sewers  in  the  cross 
streets. 

The  soil  of  the  district  is  drift  or  diluvium  ;  gneiss  rock  over  granite 
lying  beneath  it  at  variable  depths.*  In  Thirteenth  Street,  a  few  feet 
east  of  Broadway,  gneiss  was  found  at  a  distance  of  20  feet  beneath  the 
surface,  while  a  few  rods  west  of  Broadway  it  lay  about  3  feet  beneath 
the  surface,  and  on  the  western  side  of  the  junction  of  Broadway  and 
Bleecker  Streets  the  gneiss  was  reached  at  a  depth  of  42  feet.  In  Bleeck- 
er  Street,  between  Broadway  and  Mercer,  after  passing  through  500  feet 
of  gneiss  rock,  granite  was  found.  Hence  the  character  of  the  soil  and 
elevation  of  its  surface  constitute  topographical  conditions  which  are,  on 
the  whole,  very  favorable  to  the  public  health. 

Streets. — This  district  is  traversed  by  34  streets,  including  those  sur- 
rounding it,  which  for  the  most  part  run  nearly  north  and  south,  east  and 
west,  and  bisect  each  other  at  right  angles.  The  cross  streets  slope  mainly 
toward  the  west,  while  the  majority  of  those  running  north  and  south 
might  almost  be  termed  undulating.  24  of  them  have  the  cobble-stone 
pavement,  1  the  Russ,  3  the  Belgian,  and  7  are  paved  partly  with  the 
Belgian  and  partly  with  cobble-stones. 

Pavements. — The  general  surface  is  too  uneven  for  rapid  and  thorough 
drainage.  In  many  of  the  streets,  especially  those  which  have  the  cob- 
ble-stone pavement,  large  and  small  basins  are  found,  caused  by  the  de- 
pression of  some  of  the  stones,  and  these  hold  the  surface-water  until  it 
evaporates  or  is  absorbed  by  the  soil.  One  disadvantage  of  the  cobble- 
stone pavement  is  the  fact  that,  from  its  unevenncss  it  is  cleaned  with  dif- 

•  Drift  consists  of  sand,  gravel,  clay,  pebbles,  boulders,  blocks,  and  irregular  masses 
of  various  mincralogical  characters,  which  are  derived  from  the  disintegration  or  breaking 
up  of  the  superficial  or  exposed  portion  of  the  previously-existing  rocks.  Thcso  substan- 
ces arc  sometimes  united  by  nrgillacious  cement,  and  in  that  form  termed  Hard-pan. 


THE  STREETS.  SOURCES  OE  INSALUBRITY  IN  THEM. 


129 


ficulty,  and  evaporation  goes  on  much  more  slowly  than  from  a  smoother 
surface.  The  Russ  is  the  most  even  and  enduring,  hut  is  hard  and  slip- 
pery. During  the  year  a  large  numher  of  horses  is  injured  hy  falls  upon 
it,  and  accidents  also  happen  to  equestrians.  On  the  whole,  the  trap-hlock 
presents  advantages  over  any  other  pavement  in  the  district,  hut  is  not 
without  objections,  since  it,  like  the  cohhle-stone,  is  liable  to  become  very 
uneven,  while  the  spaces  between  the  separate  stones  soon  become  filled 
with  street  soil  and  are  cleaned  with  difficulty.  There  are  no  streets  in 
the  district  which  are  kept  as  clean  as  they  should  be,  with  the  exception 
of  that  part  of  Tenth  Street  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues,  which  is 
cleaned  by  private  contract.  I  do  Dot  think  there  are  any  dirtier  streets 
in  this  ward  than  Mott,  between  Bleecker  and  Houston. 

Very  many  of  the  gutters  are  dirty,  and  often  contain  stagnant  water. 
In  one  locality  it  is  almost  always  present,  and  in  another  there  was,  but 
a  few  weeks  since,  stagnant  water  covered  Avith  a  green  vegetable  growth. 
Various  articles  are  also  found  in  the  gutters,  such  as  mud,  leaves,  pav- 
ing stones,  railroad  iron,  and  a  great  variety  of  rubbish.  This  evil  of 
stagnant  water  depends  mainly  on  the  irregular  grading  of  the  gutters 
and  their  need  of  repairs  ;  yet  it  is  well  known  that  such  pools  are  manu- 
factories of  invisible  but  most  unwholesome  miasmata. 

Streets  will  have  the  least  injurious  influence  upon  the  public  health 
when  clean,  dry,  wide,  and  running  in  such  directions  as  to  catch  the 
prevailing  winds.  In  order  to  fully  appreciate  the  unhealthfulness  of 
dirty  streets,  it  must  be  remembered  that  street  dirt  is  composed  to  a 
great  extent  of  organic  matter.  Under  the  influence  of  moisture  and  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  this  matter  is  constantly  undergoing  decomposition. 
Whenever  organic  material  passes  through  such  transformations,  crypto- 
gamic  vegetables  are  produced,  which,  although  only  visible  by  the  mi- 
croscope, are  supposed  to  exert  a  marked  agency  in  the  development  and 
propagation  of  epidemic  disease.  They  are  not  found  in  the  pure  air  of 
high  mountains,  but  exist  in  great  numbers  in  that  of  large  cities.  That  the 
cause  of  contagion  is  in  some  instances  material,  is  shown  from  the  fact  that 
during  an  epidemic  of  ophthalmia,  Dr.  Eiselt,  of  Copenhagen,  discovered 
small  cells  like  those  of  pus  in  the  air  of  a  ward  where  this  malady  ex- 
isted, and  that  this  cause  is  sometimes  of  a  vegetable  nature  appears  from 
various  experiments  of  scientific  men,  among  others  M.  Lcmaire,  who. 
has  recently  succeeded  in  producing  Favus  by  means  of  the  parasite  which 
accompanies  that  malady.  Hay  fever  also  furnishes  a  familiar  instance 
of  disease  produced  by  vegetable  emanations. 

It  seems,  then,  highly  probable  that  many  of  "the  infections  that  the 
eun  sucks  up"  are  actual  matter,  and  that  there  exists  an  antagonism  bc- 
9 


130 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWELFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


tween  human  health  and  certain  forms  of  minute  vegetable  life,  which  re- 
sult from  organic  decomposition.  Such  germs  are  produced  during  warm 
weather,  in  the  dirty  streets  of  a  large  city,  upon  a  vast  scale.  Estimat- 
ing the  area  of  the  streets  in  the  Twelfth  District  at  one-fifth  of  the  en- 
tire surface,  and  we  have  a  hot-bed  for  the  production  of  noxious  vegetable 
miasms  that  is  more  than  five  times  as  large  as  Washington  Square. 

Hence  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  the  quantity  of  street  dirt 
should  be  reduced  by  careful  sweeping  to  its  minimum.  As  moisture  also 
favors  the  production  of  organic  changes,  streets  should  be  kept  so  clean 
as  to  require  but  little  sprinkling,  since  this,  in  the  opinion  of  some  of 
our  most  prominent  physicians,  only  lays  a  dust  which  should  be  carried 
out  of  the  city,  instead  of  being  left  to  form  one  of  the  materials  for  the 
generation  of  malaria.  The  sharper  particles  of  dust  are  also  injurious  to 
those  suffering  from  weak  eyes  or  diseases  of  the  respiratory  organs. 

Sewerage. — Of  the  74  blocks  contained  in  this  district,  32  have  a 
public  sewer  on  each  side  ;  29,  one  on  three  ;  and  13  have  one  on  two  sides. 
There  is  no  square  entirely  unprovided.  The  drainage  of  Fifth  Avenue 
and  University  Place  is,  with  the  exception  of  the  square  between  Tenth 
and  Eleventh  Streets,  accomplished  by  the  sewers  in  the  cross  streets. 
The  sewers  are  of  brick,  arched,  and  from  2  to  4  feet  in  diameter ;  the 
vertical  diameter  being  less  than  the  transverse.  They  receive  the 
surface-water  through  the  culverts  (there  are  133),  which  are  usually 
placed  near  the  street  corners.* 

The  number  of  culverts  varies  in  different  squares.  In  proportion  as 
houses  are  well  drained  from  within,  they  are  of  less  use,  and  their  num- 
ber might  be  considerably  diminished.  While  there  is  no  law,  however, 
obliging  landlords  to  connect  their  houses  with  the  public  sewer,  there 
will  always  be  much  dirty  water  thrown  into  the  streets  in  tenant  dis- 
tricts. An  objection  to  these  culverts  is,  that  they  are  outlets  of  miasma- 
tic exhalations. 

The  drainage  of  the  district  is  only  comparatively  good.  Most  of  it  is 
accomplished  by  the  Sixth  Avenue  and  Clarkson  Street  sewers.  That 
from  a  part  of  the  lower  row  of  squares  passes  into  the  Canal  Street 
sewer,  and  a  portion  of  the  sewage  on  the  east  side  empties  into  the 
Fourteenth,  Seventh,  Fourth,  and  East  Houston  Street  sewers. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  emanations  from  sewers  arc  extremely 
injurious  to  health,  while  no  one  doubts  that  a  well-drained  soil  is  more 
healthful  than  one  containing  moisture.  It  is  not  uncommon  even  among 
the  better  classes  of  society  to  meet  with  cases  of  low,  protracted  disease, 


•  For  Plan  of  Sewerage  of  tho  Fifteenth  Ward,  sec  the  Map  p.  l  id. 


SEWERAGE  AND  HEALTH  STATISTICS. 


131 


caused  by  a  break  in  a  waste-pipe  wbicb  produced  a  "  bad  smell  in  tbe 
house."  Experiments  on  the  lower  animals  have  shown  that  when  ex- 
posed to  the  air  from  sewers,  they  manifest  a  hot  skin,  quick  pulse,  and 
diarrhoea,  symptoms  which  are  similar  to  those  met  with  among  human 
beings  who  are  crowded  into  badly-ventilated  rooms.  The  statistics  of 
Salisbury,  England,  show  that  before  the  drainage  of  the  town,  the  mor- 
tality was  20  in  1,000,  since,  within  nine  years,  the  mortality  has  fallen 
to  13  in  1,000.  "  For  nine  years  previous  to  the  new  drainage,  the  births 
were  2,470,  and  the  deaths  2,226,  giving  a  majority  of  244.  For  nine 
years  since  the  sanitary  arrangements,  the  births  have  been  2,624,  and  the 
deaths  1,695,  giving  a  majority  of  929.  The  deaths  from  consumption,  a 
disease  which  was  at  one  time  very  prevalent  in  Salisbury,  for  seven  years 
before  the  drainage,  were  286,  and  for  seven  years  since  have  been  143, 
being  a  decrease  of  one-half."  A  distinguished  English  engineer  *  has 
also  stated  that  "  the  death  rates  of  London  diminished  just  in  proportion 
to  the  abolition  of  sinks  and  cesspools,  and  completeness  of  sewage 
drainage." 

Squares. — There  are  73  occupied  squares  in  the  Twelfth  District, 
one  of  the  entire  number  being  used  as  a  park.  Of  these,  45  may  be 
classed  as  in  a  good,  7  in  a  bad,  and  21  in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition. 
From  this,  it  is  evident  that  the  majority  of  the  population  enjoys  the 
benefits  of  fresh  air,  light,  and  tolerably  clean  streets. 

Squares  will  be  insalubrious  in  proportion  as  they  are  crowded,  badly 
drained,  surrounded  by  dirty  streets,  or  occupied  by  nuisances.  Some  of 
those  squares  which  are  in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition,  offer  many  points 
of  interest.  In  them,  the  child  of  wealthy  parents  may  hear  from  his 
comfortable  bed  the  cries  of  his  unfortunate  brother,  in  the  dampness  and 
darkness  of  the  tenant-house.  The  air  of  such  neighborhoods  is  infected, 
and  the  occupants  of  the  better  class  houses  are  living  in  a  state  of  con- 
stant exposure  to  some  of  those  contagious  diseases  so  often  prevalent  in 
tenant-dwellings.  It  is  not  only  the  poor  but  the  rich  who  should  be  in- 
terested in  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  city,  for  diseases  are  often  raging 
within  a  stone's  toss  of  their  houses,  which  if  known  would  fill  them  with 
anxiety.  A  short  time  since  small-pox  existed  in  a  tenant-house  in  this 
district,  which  stood  at  the  end  of  the  yard  of  one  among  a  row  of  better 
class  houses. 

As  an  instance  of  a  square  in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition,  take  one 
from  the  record-book  in  which  there  are  of  dwelling-houses  47.  Rather 
more  than  120  families  arc  contained  in  19  of  these  houses  ;  and  estimate 
ing  4  to  each  family,  we  should  have  a  population  of  480  souls  living  in 
*  Robert  Rawlinson,  Esq. 


132  REPORT  OF  THE  TWELFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

what  might  be  termed  a  corner  of  the  square.  The  remaining  26  dwell- 
ings contain,  on  an  average,  about  7  persons  to  each  house,  or  168  for  the 
remainder  of  the  square.  These  latter  are  constantly  exposed  to  the  ex- 
halations and  diseases  which  are  the  accompaniment  of  the  more  crowded 
neighborhood. 

Population. — Most  of  the  population  of  this  district  is  native-born, 
and  the  remainder  is  composed  of  foreigners  and  negroes.  The  census  of 
1860  gives  the  following  result : 

Population  of  the  Fifteenth  Ward. 

WHITES.  FREE  COLORED.  TOTAL. 

Males,     12,429    332    12,761 

Females,  14,380    446    14,826 


Total,  26,809  778  27,587 

The  style  of  living  in  this  population,  presents  every  variety  from  lux- 
ury to  poverty,  and  almost  every  branch  of  industry  is  represented.  A 
calculation  gives  about  70  square  feet  as  the  ground  area  for  each  person, 
exclusive  of  the  area  of  the  streets.  As,  however,  some  of  the  tenant  popu- 
lation have  but  15  square  feet  of  ground  area,  the  total  is  very  unequally 
divided.  It  is  the  healthiest  ward  in  the  city,  having  a  mortality  of 
rather  less  than  1  in  60  ;  and  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  state,  that  in 
the  recent  municipal  election,  it  gave  a  majority  in  favor  of  reform. 
It  is  a  district  of  strong  contrasts,  where  the  rich  and  poor,  healthy 
and  sick,  meet  together,  where  better  class  houses  are  every  year 
becoming  metamorphosed  into  tenant-dwellings,  and  where  the  greatest 
refinement  and  most  stolid  indifference  are  found  respectively  in  the  man- 
sion and  the  cellar. 

Buildings. — There  are  2,996  of  all  kinds  of  buildings  which  are 
wholly  or  partially  occupied,  as  follows  : 

Better  class  dwellings,      ....  1,380 

198 


Tenant-houses  containing  three  or  more  families, 
Dwellings  resembling  tenant-houses, 
Stores  on  Broadway,  2  sides,  . 

"     "  Fourth  Avenue  and  Bowery,  1  side, 

"     "  Sixth  Avenue,  1  side, 

"     "  Blccckcr  Street,  2  sides, . 
Drug  stores,  .. 

Groceries,  .... 
Shanties,  ..... 
Gambling  f-aloons, .... 
Concert  euloons,  • 


190 
212 
129 
94 
73 
16 
49 
4 
17 
7 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  RESIDENCES  AND  OTHER  BUILDINGS.  133 


Brothels  and  assignation  houses,    ...  76 

Livery  stables,           .....  29 

Private  stables  and  stalls,  ....  161 

Drinking  shops,          .....  234 

Lager  bier  saloons,           ....  23 

Policy  shops,  ......  22 

Station  house,       .          .          .          .          .  1 

Hotels.          ......  14 

Theatres,  ......  4 

Public  schools,           .....  3 

Public  library  buildings,    ....  3 

Theological  seminary,            ....  1 

Churches,  ......  16 

Synagogue,     ......  1 

Half-Orphan  asylum,        ....  1 

Asylum  for  juvenile  delinquents,         ...  1 

Slaughter-house,    .....  1 

Soap  and  candle  factory,        ....  1 

Markets,  ......  18 

Engine-houses,           .....  4 

Factories,  ......  48 

Home  for  young  women  and  children,  ...  1 


Better  Class  Residences. — Of  the  various  dwellings,  1,380  are  in- 
cluded under  better  class  residences.  These  vary  much  in  character,  but 
there  are  few  which  cannot  be  termed  comfortable,  and  many  are  lux- 
urious. It  is  well  known  that  there  is  no  city  in  the  world  where  there 
are  so  many  handsome  private  residences  as  New  York,  and  some  of  the 
finest  in  the  city  are  to  be  found  in  this  district.  Those  in  the  upper  por- 
tion are  mostly  new,  built  of  brick  or  brick  with  facings  of  brown  sand- 
stone, are  spacious,  well  drained,  and  supplied  with  gas  and  Croton-water. 
They  are  heated  by  stoves,  grates,  or  furnaces,  in  which  soft  or  hard  coal 
is  burned.  Unfortunately  the  supply  of  water  is  still  deficient,  which  is 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  although  there  is  enough  in  the  reservoirs, 
the  supply  pipes  or  mains  are  not  sufficiently  numerous.  A  bath-room 
and  water-closet  are  considered  essential  to  every  house.  The  garbage  is 
kept  in  an  "  ash-barrel,"  and  removed  by  the  street-carts.  Sometimes  a 
delay  occurs  in  the  removal,  and  then  quite  an  offensive  smell  is  produced. 
As  a  general  rule,  the  improved  modes  of  ventilation  as  at  present  under- 
stood have  not  been  specially  considered  in  the  construction  of  these 
houses,  and  they  are  often  kept  too  warm  in  winter.  Bad  odors  occasion- 
ally occur  in  better  class  residences,  as  a  consequence  of  the  traps  being 
too  shallow. 


134 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWELFTH  SAKTTARr  DISTRICT. 


Tenant-Houses. — 197  tenanHiouses  contain  3  or  more  families.  A 
different  classification  would,  however,  increase  this  numher  materially ; 
for  including  small  houses,  which  resemble  tenant-houses  in  deficiency  of 
ground  area  and  cubic  air-space,  containing  only  two  families,  and  better 
class  houses  which  are  let  out  by  rooms  to  a  tenant-class  population,  and 
we  have  388  dwellings  which  might  fairly  be  termed  tenant-houses. 

The  197  tenant-houses  contain  1,396  families  or  4,940  persons,  and  a 
cellar  population  of  51  families  or  234  persons.    Of  these  : 
18  houses  contained  3  families. 


43 

K 

tt  4 

22 

u 

"  5 

35 

u 

"  6 

11 

it 

"  7 

30 

tt 

"  8 

4 

tt 

"  9 

12 

tt 

"  10 

3 

tt 

"  12 

1 

tt 

■  14 

1 

tt 

"  15 

4 

tt 

«  16 

2 

U 

17 

5 

tt 

«  18 

1 

tit 

"  19 

1 

it 

w  20 

1 

tt 

"  21 

2 

tt 

tt  24 

1 

tt 

26 

The  means  of  escape  from  fire  was  good  in  118,  bad  in  79. 

There  were  sewers  for  124,  none  for  73. 

In  8  cellars  each  person  had,  of  cubic  air-space  from 

200  to    400  square  feet. 


5o 
60 
28 
34 


400  "  600 
600  "  800 
800  "  1,000 
over  1,000 


In  the  rooms  above  tbc  cellar  each  person  in 

10  families  bad  of  cubic  air-space  from  200  to    400  square  feet. 
55       "             "                     "       400  "    600  " 
70       «             "                     "       600  "    800  " 
28       "             "                     "       800  "  1,000  " 
34       M             "                     "         over  1,000  " 


nOMES  OF  THE  RICH.  AND  HOMES  OF  THE  POOR. 


135 


Of  these  tenant-houses  14  are  of  wood,  69  are  rear  buildings,  and  25 
have  no  rear  windows. 

The  fact  that  1,000  cubic  feet  of  air-space  is  considered  as  the  least 
allowance  necessary  for  every  adult  person,  and  that  residents  in  first- 
class  houses  enjoy  from  2,000  feet  upwards,  shows  that  the  majority  of  a 
tenant-population  has  not  the  stimulus  of  fresh  air  to  assist  in  bearing 
their  other  surrounding  discomforts  or  resisting  disease. 

The  relative  sanitary  condition  of  a  good  private  dwelling  and  a 
tenant-house  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following  comparison  : 

Private  dwelling — (medium).  Tenant— (rear). 
Area  covered  by  house  sq.  ft.,.20by40(3  stories  and  basem't),20  by  25  (4  stories). 

No.  of  inmates,  8  persons  (1  family),  8  families  (30  to  40  souls). 

Area  of  yard  and  court,  20  by  30,  12  by  20. 

Ground  area, each  person,. . .  .100  square  feet,  15  square  feet. 

Sewerage,  Drains  and  traps,  None  or  hydrant  and  cesspool. 

Cubic  air-space,  each  person,.. 4,000  cubic  feet,  400  cubic  feet. 

Light  or  dark,  Light,  Dark,  in  halls  and  bedrooms. 

Hygrometric  conditions,  Dry,  Damp. 

Ventilation,  Tolerable,  Bad. 

Nuisances,  Dirty  streets,  4  privies  in  court. 

Garbage-box. 

As  an  instance  of  the  insalubrious  conditions  under  which  some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  district  live,  may  be  mentioned  three  rows  of  tenant- 
houses  situated  between  Broadway  and  the  Bowery,  on. a  space  of  8,100 
square  feet,  or  a  little  more  than  three  full  lots  (see  diagram) ,  which  con- 
tain 352  persons.  This  gives  a  ground  area  of  23  square  feet  to  each  in- 
dividual. 

Between  the  front  and  middle  houses  is  a  space  of  about  six  feet,  be- 
tween the  middle  and  rear  one  foot.  The  lower  rooms  of  the  middle  row, 
which  has  five  stories  above  the  basement,  are  very  damp.  The  sun  never 
reaches  them.  Leather  soon  becomes  mouldy  there,  and  within  three  feet 
from  each  hall  door  are  three  privies. 

In  a  dark  and  damp  cellar,  about  18  feet  square  and  7  feet  high,  lived 
a  family  of  7  persons  ;  within  the  past  year  2  have  died  of  typhus, 
2  of  small-pox,  and  1  has  been  sent  to  the  hospital  with  erysipelas.  The 
tops  of  the  windows  of  this  abode  are  below  the  level  of  the  surface,  and  in 
the  court  near  arc  several  privies  and  a  rear  tenant-house.  Yet  this  oc- 
curred but  a  short  distance  from  the  very  heart  of  the  city. 

Courts,  Alleys,  Garbage-Boxes. — In  connection  with  the  subject 
of  tenant-houses  it  is  proper  to  mention  that  there  are  12  garbage-boxes, 
24  courts,  and  95  alleys  in  this  district. 

Some  of  the  garbage-boxes  arc  extremely  disgusting,  both  in  smell 


136 


EEPOET  OF  THE  TWELFTH  SAOTTAEY  DISTEICT. 


DRINKING  SHOPS,  CORNER  GROCERIES,  ETC. 


137 


and  appearance.  They  often  remain  unemptied  for  days,  and  this  in  hot 
weather,  and  the  result  is  a  heterogeneous  stew  worthy  of  the  "  devil's 
kitchen."  *  These  boxes  should  always  be  provided  with  covers,  emptied 
every  day  in  summer,  and  whitewashed  every  week  on  the  inside,  until 
some  better  method  is  adopted  for  the  disposition  of  garbage. 

Many  of  the  alleys  are  damp,  and  have  small  gutters  running  through 
them  into  the  street.  Some  of  the  courts  are  also  damp  and  exposed  to 
emanations  from  cesspools. 

Drinking  Shops,  Saloons,  Brothels. — There  are  234  dram  shops, 
23  lager  bier  saloons,  17  gambling  saloons,  7  concert  saloons,  76  brothels 
and  assignation  houses,  and  22  policy  shops  in  the  limits  of  this  inspection. 

The  drinking  shops  are  of  various  kinds,  and  may  be  divided  into 
"bars,"  where  only  liquors  and  segars  are  sold,  lager  bier  saloons,  where 
more  lager  bier  than  strong  liquor  is  consumed,  and  with  less  rapidity. 
Ale-houses  similar  to  lager  bier  saloons,  though  generally  more  quiet  and 
partaking  somewhat  of  the  character  of  restaurants  ;  billiard  rooms,  res- 
taurants, concert  saloons,  and  corner  groceries.  Some  of  the  brothels 
also  have  "bars." 

Deaji-Shops. — The  "bars"  and  corner  groceries  exert  the  worst  in- 
fluence of  all  these  varieties  upon  the  health  of  the  community.  It  is 
there  that  the  higher  and  lower  grades  of  tippling  are  carried  on,  and  large 
quantities  of  strong  liquors  hastily  consumed  at  unseasonable  hours.  It 
is  the  custom  with  some  to  drink  ardent  spirits  in  the  morning  for  the 
purpose  of  bracing  up  a  relaxed  nervous  system,  and  others  continue  the 
draughts  throughout  the  day.  This  induces  dyspepsia  or  a  nervous  de- 
pression, which  calls  for  the  additional  spur  of  a  temporary  excitement. 
In  this  manner  bad  passions  are  aroused,  and  habits  of  inebriety  and  chronic 
alcoholism  very  likely  to  be  induced.  The  recent  homicide  in  Hudson 
Street  occurred  in  one  of  these  drinking  saloons. 

Corner  Groceries. — The  corner  groceries  are  found  near  the  tenant- 
houses.  It  may  be  that  the  depressing  causes  which  exist  in  such  a 
neighborhood  prompt  to  the  use  of  some  "  oblivious  antidotes,"  by  which 
for  a  time  the  rough  edges  of  life  may  be  smoothed  over.  It  may  be,  too, 
that  these  stimulants  exert  a  certain  degree  of  prophylactic  influence,  but 
the  quality  of  liquor  obtained  in  such  places  is  injurious  to  the  digestive 
organs,  the  brain  becomes  unduly  excited,  and  quarrelling  or  even  murder 
results.  Probably  the  general  health  of  society  would  be  better  without 
ardent  spirits,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  introduction  of  cheap  and 
pure  wines  containing  a  small  percentage  of  alcohol  would  be  a  great  boon 
to  the  community. 

*  The  popular  name  given  to  a  tripe-boiling  establishment  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city. 


138 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWELFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Brothels. — It  being  for  the  interest  of  the  inmates  of  brothels  to  pay 
strict  attention  to  neatness  and  personal  cleanliness,  these  buildings  are 
not  overcrowded.  They  vary  in  character  from  the  quiet  assignation- 
house,  to  the  gaudy  brothel  and  low  resort  of  prostitution.  In  some  parts 
of  this  district  prostitution  is  carried  on  under  the  guise  of  segar  selling. 

It  has  often  been  urged  that  such  houses,  and  in  fact  the  whole  matter 
of  the  "  social  evil,"  should  be  placed  under  legal  and  medical  supervision, 
as  in  many  other  cities.  This  seems  to  be  the  most  efficient  method  for 
preserving  society  from  the  ravages  of  a  pernicious  and  inveterate  disease, 
thus  only  acknowledging  what  is  every  day  forced  upon  the  public  notice, 
while  practically  giving  it  less  encouragement  than  it  at  present  enjoys. 

Stores,  Markets,  etc. — Most  of  the  stores  in  this  district  are  on 
Broadway,  the  Bowery,  Sixth  Avenue,  and  Bleecker  Street.  In  these 
thoroughfares  there  are  508,  and  in  the  entire  limits  of  this  survey  the 
number  would  rise  to  more  than  600.  There  are  69  drug  stores,  49 
groceries  of  all  kinds,  and  18  markets.  Most  of  the  stores  are  commo- 
dious, and  some  very  spacious  and  elegant.  The  drug  stores  are  mostly 
of  the  better  class,  and  the  markets  generally  well  kept  private  markets. 
I  do  not  know  of  any  instance  in  this  district  where  poisons  have  been 
dispensed  by  druggists  without  the  prescription  of  a  physician. 

Factories. — There  are  piano,  cabinet  furniture,  trunk,  sewing-ma- 
chine, chocolate,  carriage,  ornamental  composition,  photographic  mate- 
rials, and  hoop-skirt  manufactories  in  the  Twelfth  District,  but  they  do 
not  at  present  call  for  special  consideration. 

Stables  and  Slaughter-houses. — There  is  1  slaughter-house  which 
i3  in  rather  a  dilapidated  condition,  1  soap  and  candle  factory,  29  livery, 
1  veterinary,  and  163  private  stables  and  stalls.  The  majority  of  stables 
is  private,  and  very  many  are  neat  and  most  carefully  kept.  In  some  parts 
of  the  district  the  pavements  in  front  of  them  arc,  however,  much  obstructed. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  their  number  is  large,  and  much  originality  has 
been  shown  in  providing  for  the  equine  population  of  the  district.  Some- 
times above  ground,  often  under  ground,  and  again  in  little  stalls  or 
stables  like  inverted  boxes,  does  this  indispensable  animal  find  shelter. 
The  large  private  stable  in  Amity  Street  near  Woostcr  is  clean  and  well 
ventilated,  and  there  are  many  handsome  private  stables  attached  to  better 
class  houses.  It  is  said  that  horses  in  subterranean  stables  are  delicate, 
take  cold  easily,  and  often  suffer  from  "  scratches." 

Churches,  Institutions. — Of  the  16  churches,  one  is  attended  by 
colored  people  ;  there  are  3  public  schools,  1  synagogue,  1  half-orphan 
asylum,  1  asylum  for  juvenile  delinquents,  3  public  library  buildings,  1 
temporary  home  for  young  women  and  children,  1  theological  seminary, 
1  university. 


SCHOOLS,  ETC. — PREVAILING  DISEASES. 


139 


In  the  construction  of  the  churches  there  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
a  special  reference  to  the  improved  methods  of  ventilation.  This  is  com- 
pensated for  to  a  great  extent  by  high  ceilings  and  spacious  interior. 
During  the  summer  the  heated  air  finds  ingress  and  egress  through  the 
open  doors  and  windows,  but  in  winter  the  atmosphere  is  somewhat 
confined. 

It  is  admitted  that  the  ventilation  in  the  public  schools  is  defective 
since  the  demand  for  education  among  all  classes  is  very  great ;  but  in 
this  district  these  institutions  are  under  the  control  of  intelligent  and 
public  spirited  men,  who  desire  to  remedy  such  evils  as  far  as  possible. 

The  Half-Orphan  Asylum  and  Asylum  for  Juvenile  Delinquents  are 
not  overcrowded  ;  there  are  clean  well  ventilated  dormitories  in  the  Half- 
Orphan  Asylum,  and  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  children  there  is 
excellent. 

The  Home  for  Young  Women  and  Children  is  similar  in  its  good  ob- 
jects, and  connected  with  the  House  of  Mercy  in  Eighty-sixth  Street. 

Vacant  Lots,  Grave-yards. — There  is  1  small  grave-yard  and  1 
Jewish  burying-ground,  15  vacant  lots  in  a  good  sanitary  condition,  and 
1  park  or  Washington  Square. 

This  square,  a  portion  of  which  was  formerly  Potter's  Field,  contains 
nearly  10  acres.  It  is  used  as  a  playground  and  public  walk,  also  for 
military  and  police  drills.  In  summer,  the  trees  which  it  contains  are  in- 
fested with  worms.  It  is  probable  that  trees  exert  a  purifying  influence 
upon  the  atmosphere,  since  they  exhale  ozone,  that  remarkable  substance 
which  is  now  admitted  to  be  Nature's  great  disinfectant. 

This  park  increases  materially  the  amount  of  cubic  air-space  in  this 
portion  of  the  district. 

Prevailing  Diseases. — Since  the  commencement  of  the  survey, 
scarlet  fever,  typhoid  fever,  small-pox,  and  cholera  infantum,  have  pre- 
vailed in  the  tenant-houses  of  this  ward.  Six  cases  of  small-pox  occurred 
in  one  of  three  thickly-peopled  rows  of  such  dwellings,  and  the  disease 
was  communicated  to  a  child  living  in  an  adjacent  street,  who  had  been 
playing  in  the  infected  neighborhood.  Seven  cases  of  typhoid  also  occurred 
in  a  court  among  children,  and  this  was  within  a  few  doors  of  better  class 
houses.  A  little  child  also  died  of  scarlet  fever  a  few  months  since  in  a 
better  class  house,  which  was  near  a  tenant  neighborhood,  where  the  same 
disease  had  existed  a  short  time  previously.  This,  however,  may  have 
been  only  a  coincidence. 

There  is  a  great  comparative  indifference  to  contagious  maladies 
among  the  inmates  of  tenant-houses,  and  much  carelessness  as  to  prophy- 
lactic measures  ou  the  part  of  landlords.    It  sometimes  happens  that  ten- 


140 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWELFTII  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


ants  move  into  rooms  where  small-pox  has  raged  but  a  few  weeks  before, 
without  knowing  that  this  disease  has  existed  there,  and  these  rooms  are 
not  disinfected  during  the  continuance  of  the  malady,  or  after  it  has  run 
its  course. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  inspection,  it  was  a  source  of  much  sur- 
prise that  so  many  localities  which  apparently  contained  all  the  elements 
for  the  generation  of  malaria,  should  be  so  free  from  disease.  Certain 
houses  were  described  as  "  Insalubrious  Quarters,"  in  which  the  occupants 
were  nevertheless  comparatively  well.  But  when  the  hot  months  came 
on,  and  the  sun  called  out  the  lurking  miasms,  then  disease  showed  itself 
in  these  poisoned  abodes,  and  the  effect  was  thus  associated  with  its  cause. 

Most  of  the  complaints  reported  to  the  Association  have  received  the 
attention  of  the  Sanitary  Police,  and  there  seems  a  disposition  on  the  part 
of  that  body  to  remedy  existing  evils  as  far  as  is  practicable. 

But  the  present  health  organization  of  the  city  is  inadequate  to  main- 
tain a  constant  supervision,  and  a  more  comprehensive  system  is  necessary, 
corresponding  to  the  advancement  of  sanitary  knowledge  and  the  wants 
of  a  large  and  rapidly-growing  city. 

Although  this  district  includes  the  healthiest  ward  in  the  city,  its 
sanitary  condition,  as  will  have  been  seen  from  the  previous  pages,  is  only 
comparatively  good,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  average  number  of  diseases 
and  deaths  which  occur  annually  within  its  limits,  might  be  still  further 
reduced.    It  would  be  improved  by 

Necessary  Improvements. — 1.  Cleaner  streets  and  gutters ;  the 
streets  to  be  kept  constantly  clean  by  men  and  carts  going  through  the  dif- 
ferent streets,  as  is  done  in  other  cities,  instead  of  a  periodical  "  cleaning 
up." 

2.  A  more  complete  system  of  sewerage. 

3.  The  erection  of  model  tenant-houses.  And  here  it  is  proper  to 
speak  against  that  indifference  as  to  the  welfare  of  the  poor,  which  is  often 
observed  among  the  better  class  ;  a  shifting  of  those  responsibilities  which 
always  must  press  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  influential  members  of  a  large 
city  under  a  republican  form  of  government,  unless  they  are  willing  to 
allow  the  best  interests  of  the  city  to  fall  into  unworthy  hands. 

The  tenant-population  is  deprived  of  light  and  air  because  of  the  want 
of  good  houses  and  not  from  choice,  for  there  is  not  a  doubt  that  model 
lodging-houses  would  be  easily  filled,  and  that  they  would  prove  remuner- 
ative. The  effect  of  such  buildings  would  be  seen  in  an  increased  morality 
and  diminished  death-rate. 

4.  Liquors  should  not  be  sold  without  a  license. 

5.  The  social  evil  should  be  placed  under  legal  and  medical  restraints. 


NECESSAEY  IMPROVEMENTS . 


141 


6.  It  is  believed  that  the  packing  of  street  cars  is  also  a  cause  of  the 
propagation  of  disease,  since  persons  in  these  conveyances  are  often 
brought  into  very  close  contact  with  those  suffering  from  contagious  mala- 
dies. Seventy-five  passengers  have  been  counted  riding  upon  one  street 
car  at  the  same  time,  while  there  are  only  seats  for  twenty.  Serious 
injuries  also  sometimes  occur  to  those  getting  on  or  off,  and  one  or  two 
individuals  have  lost  their  lives  by  being  run  over  during  the  past  year. 

7.  Public  urinals  are  also  necessary  in  large  cities.  As  constructed  in 
Paris  they  disfigure  the  public  thoroughfares  and  offend  public  decency ; 
but  such  places  might  be  built  in  the  rear  of  small  stores,  thus  removing 
every  objectionable  appearance.  Some  points  in  this  district  suggest  such 
an  improvement. 

It  is  also  a  fair  question  whether  animals  for  slaughter  should  pass  in 
droves  through  our  principal  streets,  sometimes  filling  the  air  with  a  dis- 
agreeable smell,  injuring  their  meat  in  hot  weather,  and  occasionally  run- 
ning a  muck  through  the  town,  when  thirsty  and  overheated.  Fast 
driving  of  horses,  although  less  frequent  since  the  occurrence  of  fatal  re- 
sults, has  not  entirely  disappeared. 

Is  it  necessary  to  add,  that  the  care  of  the  public  health  should  be  un- 
der the  supervision  of  a  well-qualified  body  of  medical  men,  sufficiently 
numerous  to  keep  a  constant  watch  over  all  sanitary  affairs,  and  associated 
with  a  police  force  who  could  carry  out  such  sanitary  measures  as  were 
necessary  for  the  public  welfare. 

It  will  read  strangely  by  and  by  that  for  many  years  the  health  of  the 
city  was  under  the  control  of  those  who,  in  some  instances,  were  not 
especially  familiar  with  the  laws  of  health,  and  in  many  quite  ignorant 
of  them.  It  seems  only  natural  that  those  to  whom  society  commits  its 
individual  health,  and  whose  time  is  occupied  in  the  study  of  disease, 
would  be  the  most  efficient  guardians  of  the  health  of  a  community. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


ROBERT   NEWMAN,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — The  Thirteenth  District  comprises  the  western  half 
of  the  Seventeenth  Ward,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  East  Fourteenth 
Street,  east  by  the  First  Avenue,  including  both  sides  of  said  avenue,  south 
by  Rivinyton  Street,  and  west  by  the  Bowery. 

Extent  of  Area. — Measured  throughout  the  exterior  line3  of  its 
boundaries,  the  area  of  this  district  covers  8,396,648  square  feet.  In  the 
early  history  of  the  city  this  district  was  embraced  in  three  adjacent  farms  : 
The  "  Van  Cortlandt  Farm,"  extending  northward  to  the  line  of  Houston 
Street ;  next  the  "  Minthorne  Farm,"  extending  to  Sixth  Street ;  and, 
lastly,  north  of  Sixth  Street  the  "  Stuyvesant  Farm,"  covered  the  balance 
of  this  district  and  much  more  beyond  it. 

Geology. — The  diluvium  or  drift  constitutes  the  principal  external 
feature  of  the  geological  formations  here.  Beneath  this  drift  of  silicious 
clay,  etc.,  is  the  broad  and  distorted  underlying  rock  of  the  island,  gneiss, 
and  which  at  the  present  grade  of  the  streets  is  found  at  various  places  at 
a  depth  of  about  18  feet  below  the  surface. 

Topography. — The  whole  district  is  elevated  ground  ;  the  character  of 
the  soil  is  sandy.  Around  Stanton  and  Rivington  Streets  particularly,  the 
best  sand  for  building  purposes  was  found.  A  few  lots  have  been  filled  in 
with  earth  from  4  to  6  feet.  The  only  exception  in  topographical  char- 
acter was  a  marshy  ground  on  the  "  Peter  Stuyvesant  Farm,"  which  ex- 
tended from  a  little  below  Thirteenth  Street  to  Fourteenth  Street,  and 
from  First  Avenue  a  little  beyond  the  Second  Avenue.  A  brook  passed 
this  locality  from  west  to  east,  and  finally  emptied  into  the  East  River. 
About  twenty  years  ago  this  swamp  was  filled  in  with  earth  for  a  little 


STREETS  AND  DRAINAGE. 


143 


more  than  10  feet  in  depth.  The  original  elevation  was  here  10t}  feet ;  at 
present  it  is  21  feet,  and  the  lowest  point  in  the  district.  Several  wells 
and  springs  have  existed  in  different  parts  of  the  district,  which  have  been 
gradually  covered.  The  last  wells  were  covered  in  1861,  and  were  situ- 
ated as  follows :  Corner  of  Second  Avenue  and  Fourth  Street,  Second 
Avenue  and  Third  Street,  and  First  Avenue  and  Sixth  Street. 

The  natural  drainage  of  the  district  is  good ;  the  west  side  at  Bowery 
and  Fourth  Avenue  is  highest,  varying  in  height  in  several  places  within 
6  feet,  gradually  sloping  toward  First  Avenue.  The  greatest  elevation  is 
at  the  corner  of  Stanton  and  Bowery,  being  45  feet.  The  lowest  locality 
is  First  Avenue  and  Fourteenth  Street,  21  feet,  and  continuing  a  few 
blocks  south. 

The  elevations  in  Bowery  and  Fourth  Avenue  vary  between 

38  ft.  3  in.  to  44  ft.  11  in. 
"         "  Third  Av.  vary  between  34  ft.  2  in.  to  37  ft.   6  in. 

"         "  Second  Av.  "       "      27  ft.  8  in.  to  40  ft.  11  in. 

"        "  First     "    "       "      21ft.  0  in.  to  35  ft.   4  in. 

"While  the  city  of  New  York  has  been  so  favored  by  nature  in  regard 
to  situation,  that  it  ought  to  be  one  of  the  most  salubrious  cities  in  the 
world,  this  district  has  the  greatest  natural  advantages  for  health  of  any 
within  its  limits.  With  proper  sanitary  regulations  in  full  operation 
zymotic  diseases  would  not  here  be  known.  The  elevation,  the  good 
natural  drainage,  the  sandy,  high  ground,  combine  topographically  and 
geologically  all  the  natural  elements  of  salubrity. 

Streets. — The  streets  run  regularly,  being  laid  out  in  avenues  from 
south  to  north,  and  in  streets  from  west  to  east,  excepting  Stuyvesant 
Street,  which  runs  diagonally  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  Streets.  The 
avenues  and  Fourteenth  Street  are  100  feet  wide,  the  numerical  streets 
and  others  running  in  the  same  direction  are  60  feet  wide.  "  Extra  Place  " 
is  27  feet  wide.    The  alleys  and  courts  differ  much  in  width. 

The  streets  are  generally  paved  with  cobble  stones.  Belgian  pave- 
ment is  in  the  Bowery,  Fourth  Avenue,  St.  Mark's  Place,  and  Houston 
Street ;  the  latter  just  finished.  The  gutters  in  the  ennumerated  streets 
arc  most  cleanly  and  well  drained  by  the  inclination  of  their  planes,  but 
on  the  avenues  the  unevenncss  and  general  inclination  of  their  planes  ren- 
der the  gutters  extremely  unclean  by  the  collection  of  water  and  garbage 
in  the  depressions.  At  certain  places,  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of 
factories,  large  stores,  and  stables,  the  gutters  are  covered  to  afford  smooth 
passage  to  vehicles  ;  these  coverings  obstruct  the  gutters  and  increase  the 
accumulations,  generating  foul  emanations  and  musquitoes.    This  is  cs- 


144:  REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

pecially  noticeable  in  Christie,  Rivington,  and  Stanton  Streets.  The  res- 
idents of  No.  16  Rivington  complained  that  in  consequence  of  such  ob- 
structions and  deficiencies  of  drainage,  water  accumulates  in  their  cellars 
during  the  winter.  The  whole  of  this  block  is  filthy.  The  corners  of 
this  street  at  Christie  and  Forsyth  are  particularly  filthy.  In  Christie 
heaps  of  garbage  are  always  found.  In  Forsyth,  notwithstanding  the  ef- 
forts of  the  residents,  the  deficiency  of  drainage  and  accumulated  filth 
from  the  neighboring  slaughter-house  and  establishment  for  preparing 
calves'  heads,  cause  a  most  troublesome  nuisance. 

The  gutters  in  Eldridge  Street  are  out  of  repair.  The  sidewalk  in 
Stanton,  between  Eldridge  and  Allen,  is  in  a  miserable  condition,  nearly 
every  flagstone  being  on  a  different  plane.  The  drainage  before  No.  22 
Stanton  Street  is  in  such  a  state  that  the  residents  cannot  keep  the  gutters 
clean.  The  pavement  is  poor  in  many  places,  particularly  in  First  Ave- 
nue and  some  places  in  Second  Avenue.  At  the  corner  of  this  avenue 
and  Sixth  Street  the  pavement  has  given  way,  causing  an  excavation  dan- 
gerous to  travel.  Fifth  Street,  near  Bowery,  is  very  dirty,  and  needs  re- 
pairs. The  two  following  localities  present  the  appearance  of  dung-hills 
rather  than  the  thoroughfares  in  a  civilized  city,  viz. :  Sixth  Street  be- 
tween Bowery  and  Second  Avenue,  and  Eleventh  Street  between  First 
and  Second  Avenues. 

Sewerage. — No  community  and  no  city  can  preserve  a  wholesome 
condition  without  a  thorough  supply  of  pure  water,  and  an  equally  thor- 
ough purification  from  all  refuse.  To  properly  arrange  this  double  circu- 
lation in  a  large  house,  is  a  matter  of  no  trivial  consideration  ;  how  much 
more,  then,  is  skill,  sagacity,  and  system,  necessary  for  the  sufficient  supply 
and  drainage  of  a  district  of  an  immense  city  like  New  York  ?  Houses 
may  be  built  on  as  many  different  plans  as  the  fancy  of  owners  or  the 
skill  of  builders  may  desire  ;  blocks  may  be  large  or  small ;  streets  and 
avenues  straight  or  curved,  regular  or  irregular,  as  may  suit  the  cir- 
cumstances of  proprietors ;  but  the  distributions  of  pure  water  and 
the  removal  of  impurities  by  sewerage,  must  be  effected  according  to  a 
logical  plan  and  system.  The  laws  of  nature  and  the  rules  of  art  will 
only  give  success  in  this  department.  It  is  not  enough  to  empty  the  slops 
of  one  room  into  the  common  sink,  nor  the  filth  of  one  house  into  tho 
common  privy  or  waste-pipe.  The  sewerage  of  each  room  and  house  must 
be  accurately  estimated  before  it  enters  tho  common  sewer  of  the  block, 
and  that  sewer  must  be  of  a  capacity  sufficient  for  all  the  houses  feeding 
it.  But  that  is  not  all ;  the  street  sewer  must  find  an  ample  reservoir, 
and  the  reservoir  must  find  instant  conduit  by  the  general  channel  to  tho 
river.    Nor  Bhould  the  solids  lie  in  the  corners  and  on  tho  shore,  whilo 


CAN  THE  SEWERS  BE  CLEANSED. 


145 


the  fluids  find  difficult  passage  into  the  river  current.  Perpetual  motion, 
and  sufficient  outlet,  are  the  grand  principles  of  a  good  sewerage.  Heav- 
ily laden  water  will  not  turn  sharp  corners,  run  up  hill,  nor  force  impos- 
sible outlets  to  suit  the  ignorance,  caprice,  or  stinginess  of  any  individual 
or  community.  Nor  is  it  sufficient  to  plan  and  execute  a  complete  system 
of  sewerage  for  New  York  as  it  is,  but  rather  for  New  York  as  it  will  be. 
If  a  sewer,  a  culvert,  or  conduit  is  sufficient  to-day,  it  will  be  impassable 
to-morrow ;  for  there  will  be  another  house  to  drain.  From  our  obser- 
vation and  reflection  we  can  but  conclude  that,  to  devise  and  put  in  opera- 
tion a  system  of  sewerage  adequate  to  the  necessities  of  this  city,  is  a 
problem  to  be  solved  only  by  the  most  skilful  students  of  civil  engineering. 

The  original  plan  of  sewerage  for  this  city  was  adapted  only  to  a  vil- 
lage ;  that  plan,  barely  sufficient  at  the  outset,  has  never  been  enlarged 
nor  considerably  improved.  Additions  merely  have  been  made  from  time 
to  time,  which  have  resulted  in  the  greatest  confusion.  There  are  houses 
with  no  sewer,  privies  which  overflow  into  the  yards,  vacant  lots  convert- 
ed into  cesspools,  streets  ankle  deep  with  filth,  for  which  no  outlet  ever 
was  contemplated.  Another  fault  is,  that  the  sewerage  has  been  con- 
structed at  different  times,  by  different  persons.  One  district  has  been 
drained  by  a  contractor,  who  was  utterly  ignorant  of  the  condition  of  the 
sewerage  in  the  adjoining  district,  and  the  sewer  from  one  block  has  been 
let  into  the  sewer  of  another,  without  a  thought  as  to  the  capacity  of  that 
sewer  to  perform  its  double  function.  If  the  constructor  only  got  the  filth 
out  of  sight  somewhere,  his  contract  was  finished,  and  the  city  was  drain- 
ed !  A  large  amount  of  water  is  led  into  a  conduit  entirely  too  small ; 
sewers  are  constructed  on  a  level,  or  even  on  an  ascending  plane.  A 
sewer  14  feet  in  depth  empties  into  another  of  but  12  feet,  and  six  houses 
are  so  drained  that,  if  an  obstruction  is  caused  by  one  house,  the  other 
five  are  not  drained  at  all.  This  is  owing  to  the  wretched  economy  of 
speculators,  who  built  houses  with  no  regard  to  their  connection  with  the 
street  sewer. 

There  is  no  provision  for  cleaning  out  the  sewers.  In  the  winter  the 
abundant  rains  and  the  water  from  melting  of  the  snow  is  carried  into  the 
sewer,  and  they  are  thus  partially  cleansed.  But  in  the  summer,  when 
filth  collects  most  rapidly  and  decomposes  so  readily,  little  rain  falls  and 
the  sewers  are  uncleaned  sometimes  for  weeks.  There  are  no  means  of  flush- 
ing them,  and  hence  where  the  solids  prevail  in  the  drain  a  foul  and  pesti- 
lential atmosphere  is  generated  during  the  worst  months  of  the  year.  The 
same  lack  of  system  which  prevails  in  the  construction  of  small  and  main 
channels  also  holds  in  the  outlets.  These  outlets  are  intended  to  diffuse 
the  contents  of  the  sewers  into  the  river  currents  ;  but  in  many  cases  the 
10 


146  REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


outlet  is  so  much  above  high-water  mark,  that  while  the  fluids  run  away 
the  solids  lie  on  the  shore,  diffusing  pestilence  and  sickness  into  all  the 
neighborhood.  Other  outlets  are  so  far  below  the  water-level,  that  when 
the  tide  is  high,  the  sea-water  fills  the  sewer  and  forces  back  the  filth. 
The  result  of  this  tidal  influx  is  the  overflow  of  cellars  and  privies  in  the 
neighborhood  ;  the  regurgitation  or  reflux  of  gases  and  foul  emanations 
by  the  privies,  basins,  and  sinks,  even  far  removed  from  the  water-side. 
For  many  blocks  toward  the  centre  of  the  city  this  dangerous  recumula- 
tion  sends  its  evil  influences  in  the  shape  of  foul  odors  and  offensive 
privies. 

In  the  neighborhood  filled  by  tenant-houses  of  the  lower  classes  the 
waste-pipes  from  the  privies  into  the  sewers  are  often  obstructed  by  gar- 
bage, ashes,  and  dead  animals.  This  evil  requires  some  special  provision 
of  grating  and  facilities  for  removal.  In  regard  to  the  size  of  sewers  con- 
structed in  1862  the  dimensions  are  4  ft.  X  2  ft.  8  in. 

Sewerage  of  the  District.— All  the  enumerated  streets  with 
Houston,  Stanton,  and  Rivington,  are  sewered,  except  a  part  of  Twelfth 
Street,  between  Second  and  Third  Avenues,  where  there  is  a  private 
sewer,  which  connects  with  the  public  one. 

The  following  Localities  have  no  Public  Sewer  : 

Part  of  Twelfth  Street  between  3d  and  2d  Avenues. 
Fourth  Avenue  "       7th  "    9th  Streets. 

«        «  "     10th  "  11th  " 

"        "  «      12th  "  13th  « 

Third  Avenue  "       7th  "    9th  " 

"        »  «     10th  "  13th  " 

Second  Avenue  between  Houston     "    3d  " 

»        "  «  8th  "    9th  « 

First  Avenue  "        Houston     "  12th  " 

«        «  «  13th  "  14th  « 

Christie  Street  "  Rivington  "  Houston 11 
Forsyth    "  "       Rivington    "  Stanton  " 

Eldridge    "         a  small  part  near  Houston  " 
Allen        "     between  Stanton  and  Houston  " 
Stuyvesant  Street  entirely. 
Extra  Place  entirely. 

There  are  private  sewers  in  Christie  Street,  Nos.  181  and  183 ;  iu 
Third  Avenue  near  Tenth  Street,  and  in  the  same  avenue  near  Twelfth 
Street,  the  houses  Nos.  72,  74,  7G,  78  have  one  sewer,  which  runs  from 


THE  SQUARES. — HOW  OCCUPIED. 


147 


their  yards  and  the  stable  No.  100  East  Twelfth  Street,  and  empties  into 
the  Twelfth  Street  public  sewer.  This  is  one  of  the  badly-constructed 
sewers,  which  often  is  blocked  up,  and  has  given  rise  to  much  trouble  and 
inconvenience  to  the  parties  concerned. 

Second  Avenue  provision-house,  Nos.  10-14,  connects  with  First  Street. 
"        "       Nos.  6  and  8  connects  with  Houston  Street. 
"        "       Nos.  17-27  have  only  one  sewer. 
"        "       between  8th  and  9th  Streets  are  good  sewers. 
Stuyvesant  Street  to  9th  and  10th  Streets. 

First  Avenue  Nos.  121  and  123  connects  with  8th  Street  sewer. 
"       "       Nos.  143  to  151         "        "  10th     «  " 

In  Bowery  and  in  streets  below  First  Street,  only  a  few  houses  are 
connected  with  the  sewers,  and  these  are  mostly  tenant-houses.  In  First 
Street,  No.  16  to  26,  the  houses  have  only  one  sewer,  and  belong  there- 
fore to  the  class  mentioned  before. 

Squares. — There  are  in  this  district  44  squares,  besides  the  blocks  on 
the  east  side  of  First  Avenue,  between  Houston  and  Fourteenth  Streets. 
There  is  great  variety  in  regard  to  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the  same 
square  as  well  as  in  different  squares. 

First  Avenue  is  mostly  in  a  bad  sanitary  condition,  and  the  streets  are 
dirty  in  consequence  of  municipal  neglect  and  the  presence  of  the  large 
population,  who  live  mostly  in  tenant-houses.  Second  Avenue  has  mostly 
first-class  dwellings.  The  streets  between  the  avenues  present  a  great 
variety  of  conditions.  Near  the  corner  of  Second  Avenue  and  Sixth 
Street,  fashionable  houses,  cattle-yards,  and  markets,  and  the  worst 
slaughter-house  in  this  district,  are  promiscuously  mingled.  In  Eleventh 
Street,'  again,  we  find  in  the  same  square  first-class  houses,  and  over- 
crowded tenant-houses  of  the  lowest  order,  with  the  great  fever-nest  of  the 
district. 

In  general  it  can  be  stated,  that  the  upper  part  of  the  district  above 
Seventh  Street  is  in  the  best  sanitary  condition,  except  First  Avenue, 
and  Eleventh  Street  between  First  and  Second  Avenues.  The  lower  part 
below  Sixth  Street  is  in  a  mixed  condition. 

Inhabitants. — Private  families  that  have  a  whole  or  half  a  house  as 
a  residence,  are  2,107.  The  laboring  classes  living  in  tenant-houses,  num- 
ber about  5,872  families  ;  making  a  total  of  7,979  families  in  the  district. 
The  whole  population  is  estimated  about  39,890  persons.  In  the  Bowery, 
Fourth  Avenue,  Third  Avenue,  and  First  Avenue,  almost  every  house  is 
occupied  by  a  store  or  business  of  some  kind  ;  the  upper  portion  of  such 
houses  are  used  for  dwellings. 


148  REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


In  Second  Avenue  are  private  residences  exclusively.  In  the  enu- 
merated streets  above  Seventh  Street  are  mostly  private  houses  ;  below 
Seventh  Street  mostly  tenant-houses,  with  some  slaughter-houses  and  fac- 
tories mixed.  Houston  Street,  and  below  that  street,  shopping  business, 
factories,  tenant-houses,  and  private  dwellings  are  intermingled  in  strange 
variety. 

In  regard  to  peculiarities,  classes,  prevailing  character  and  nationality, 
the  streets  give  a  better  key  for  tracing  them  out  than  the  squares.  For 
instance,  the  First  Avenue  is  inhabited  to  Second  Street  by  Americans, 
with  few  Germans.  Between  Second  and  Sixth  Streets,  we  find  Germans 
exclusively  in  large  tenant-houses  ;  Sixth  to  Seventh  Streets  a  mixed 
population  of  Americans,  Irish,  and  Germans  ;  Seventh  to  Eleventh  Streets 
Irish  prevailing,  with  Germans  scattered ;  Twelfth  to  Fourteenth  Streets 
Irish  exclusively  ;  Eleventh  Street,  between  First  and  Second  Avenue,  Irish 
entirely  ;  below  Third  Street  is  a  mixed  population,  with  Germans  prevail- 
ing ;  Sixth  Street,  between  First  and  Second  Avenue,  almost  entirely  Ger- 
mans ;  Second  Avenue,  and  the  enumerated  streets  above  Seventh  Street, 
Americans  prevailing,  with  many  Germans  scattered  ;  Third,  Fourth,  and 
Fifth  Streets,  a  mixed  population.  Colored  people  live  scattered  around 
the  district  in  rear  buildings  and  alleys. 


Buildings. — Classification  of  buildings. 


Private  dwelling  houses, 

.  1,204 

Tenant  Do.,  ..... 

734 

*  Stores,  factories,  shops,  etc., 

.  123 

Slaughter-houses,  .... 

38 

Packing-houses,  fat  and  hides,  etc., 

17 

Churches,  ..... 

.     •  14 

Schools,  ...... 

7 

*  Hotels,  saloons,  armories,  etc., 

48 

*  Stables,  ...... 

.  116 

Miscellaneous  (not  specified  here), 

53 

Total  buildings  in  the  district, 

.  2,354 

Within  this  district  are  46  courts,  160  alleys,  272  rear  buildings. 
Private  Dwellings. — Of  the  1,204  private  dwellings,  wc  find  the 


*  The  lines  with  a  *  show  not  the  whole  number  of  those  establishments  in  the  district, 
as  many  buildings  arc  used  for  several  purposes.  For  instance,  a  single  building  may  bo 
occupied  in  part  by  tenants  as  a  dwelling,  while  the  other  portions  are  used  as  a  factory, 
shop,  store,  market,  and  stable.  The  above  table  is  only  a  classification  of  buildings, 
while  specification  of  other  establishments  arc  prepared  under  their  respective  heads. 


THE  TENANT-HOUSES  AND  THEIR  OCCUPANTS.  149 


frame  buildings  21,  frame  with  brick  front  44.  The  remainder  are  mostly 
substantial  brick  buildings,  of  which  a  large  number  have  brown  stone 
fronts. 

These  houses  vary  considerably  in  size,  but  are  mostly  22  X  25  feet 
front,  and  52  feet  deep.  A  few  narrow  houses  have  been  built  recently 
at  corners,  which  in  some  instances  have  a  front  of  only  12|-  feet,  and 
scarcely  any  yard  attached.  Most  of  these  dwellings  are  comfortable, 
even  luxurious,  and  have  all  tbe  modern  improvements.  Some  excep- 
tions to  this  rule  are  found  in  First,  Third,  and  Fourth  Avenues,  and  the 
Bowery.  The  old-fashioned  dwellings,  without  any  convenience  or  mod- 
ern improvements,  are  all  situated  in  the  lower  part  of  the  district  below 
Fourth  Street. 

Tenant-Houses. — The  whole  district  presents  great  variety  in  the  lo- 
cation of  tenant-houses,  the  best  and  the  worst  mingling  in  close  proximity. 
Some  squares  show  this  variety  to  such  a  degree  tbat  scarcely  two  build- 
ings can  be  found  alike.  And  in  the  same  manner  we  find  the  tenant- 
houses  scattered  throughout  the  whole  district  except  on  Second  Avenue. 

There  are  rows  of  tenant-houses  recently  built  in  Fifth  and  Sixth 
Streets  between  First  and  Second  Avenues,  and  in  First  Avenue.  Old- 
fashioned  tenant-houses,  in  bad  repair,  are  found  principally  in  the  follow- 
ing localities  :  1st.  Between  Bivington  and  Stanton,  Christie  and  Bow- 
ery. 2d.  Between  Houston  and  First  Streets,  Bowery  and  Second  Ave- 
nue. 3d.  A  row  of  old  houses  in  Eleventh  Street,  between  Third  and 
Fourth  Avenues.  These  buildings  are  in  a  miserable  state,  old  and  out  of 
repair,  some  stairs  dangerous  to  pass,  foundation  of  privies  falling  away, 
and  the  ground  saturated  with  faecal  matter. 

Most  of  the  tenant-houses  are  built  of  brick ;  one,  217  Bowery,  lias  a 
white  marble  front.  There  are  frame  buildings  68,  frame  with  a  brick 
front  51. 

The  tenant-houses  vary  much  in  size  ;  the  fronts  from  1G  to  25  feet,  the 
depth  40  to  52  feet :  some  exceptions  of  course  occur.  The  sizes  of  the 
family  apartments  differ  in  various  places  very  much,  and  have  been  given 
exactly  in  the  different  special  reports.  Among  the  different  arrange- 
ments of  family  apartments,  the  following  are  worth  mentioning  :  1.  One 
family  occupies  one  room  and  one  bedroom.  The  room  has  two  win- 
dows, but  the  bedroom  is  dark  in  most  cases,  without  any  ventilation. 
Such  bedrooms  are  generally  8x5  feet,  or  8  X  8  feet,  or  9  X  7  feet.  Often 
four  such  family  apartments  are  situated  on  one  floor,  by  which  arrange- 
ment the  stairs  and  halls  necessarily  must  be  narrow  and  dark.  2.  One 
room  with  two  windows  and  two  bedrooms.  The  bedrooms  of  the  same 
size  as  before,  but  according  to  circumstances  one  or  both  with  windows. 


150  REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


These  first  and  second  classes  of  family  apartments  are  generally  in  ten- 
ant-houses, built  expressly  for  such  a  purpose.  3.  One  room  with  two 
windows,  one  room  with  one  window,  and  one  dark  bedroom.  This  ar- 
rangement is  found  mostly  in  houses  which  have  been  private  dwellings 
formerly,  and  have  become  tenant-houses  since  the  up-town  movement  of 
fashionable  people.  In  such  cases  two  families  are  on  one  floor,  each  oc- 
cupying respectively  front  or  back  part.  4.  Two  rooms  and  one  bedroom. 
The  arrangements  of  such  rooms  differ  in  some  respect,  and  are  rather 
exceptions.  5.  Two  rooms  and  two  bedrooms.  In  such  a  case  we  find 
almost  always  two  families  on  a  floor,  which  is  divided  into  two  lateral 
halves.  The  apartment  is  generally  12^X52  feet  more  or  less,  ceiling  8 
feet  high,  and  is  divided  into  a  front  and  back  room,  each  with  two  win- 
dows. Between  these  two  rooms  are  two  bedrooms,  which  are  generally 
dark,  and  receive  light  and  air  by  the  two  other  rooms. 

If  the  two  bedrooms  have  windows  and  good  ventilation,  they  become 
the  best  apartments  in  a  tenant-house  which  can  be  found  at  present. 

The  best  idea  of  the  size  of  these  rooms,  and  their  population,  the  fol- 
lowing figures  will  give,  particularly  in  certain  localities. 

Ground-area  to  Each  Person  in  Tenant-Houses. — In  the  Bow- 
ery, Christie,  Rivington,  and  Stanton  Streets,  there  was  found  to  be  to 
each  inhabitant  28  square  feet.  In  Nos.  —  and  Nos.  —  Eldridge  Street, 
12£  square  feet.  These  are  lowest  averages  of  area  allowed  to  a  tenant 
population  in  my  district.  At  various  other  and  more  favorable  local- 
ities, I  found  a  pro  rata  of  from  30  to  80  square  feet  for  each  inhabitant. 

Cubic  feet  of  air  to  each  person. 

Rivington  and  Stanton  between  Bowery  and  Christie,      .  3G0,  4G0,  etc. 
"        «       "  "      Christie  and  Forsyth,        576,  792,  « 

"        "       "  "      Eldridge  and  Allen,        .  432,  566 

Stanton  and  Houston  "  Forsyth  and  Eldridge,  566 
Third  Avenue,  No.  — ,  .  .  .  .  336 

Fourth  and  Third  Avenues  between  12th  and  13th  Streets,  473 
No.  —  E.  13th  Street,  .....  392 
Second  and  First  Avenues,  Houston  to  First  Street,    .  534 
"  "  "     between  10th  and  11th  Streets,  392 

"  «  "  "     11th  and  12th     «  432 

Croton-water  is  in  all  the  yards,  and  in  more  than  half  of  the  tenant- 
houses  on  all  floors.  But  in  the  larger  half  of  these  houses,  the  tenants 
have  not  many  conveniences  therefrom.  Either  from  want  of  pressure, 
scarcity  of  water  in  reservoir,  or  fault  of  mechanical  structure  and  re- 


DESCRIPTION  OF  NUISANCES. 


151 


pairs,  the  water  is  not  found  in  the  house  at  all,  or  not  above  the  second 
story. 

Imperfect  drainage  of  streets,  gutters,  and  houses,  has  in  many  places 
a  marked  influence  on  tenant-house  population.  The  filth  accumulated  is 
increased  in  consequence  of  the  uncleanliness  that  prevails  in  those  places. 
Perhaps  one-half  of  these  houses  have  well-arranged  drainage  pipes 
throughout,  for  the  removal  of  house-slops,  which  arrangement  works 
well  if  the  sewerage  is  good,  and  the  sewers  not  blocked  up.  But  if  the 
former  evils  are  superadded  to  bad  sewerage,  the  locality  is  rendered  in- 
salubrious by  foul  emanations,  stagnant  water,  etc.  The  tenants  of  the 
houses  without  house-drainage  generally  throw  their  house-slops  indis- 
criminately anywhere  into  the  streets,  alleys,  courts,  yards,  and  sometimes 
even  into  cellars  and  passages. 

The  removal  of  garbage  by  public  cartmen,  whose  arrival  is  announced 
by  bell-ringers,  is  a  new  arrangement,  and  is  of  decided  utility  if  properly 
carried  out  by  all  parties  concerned.  Many  tenants  do  not  comply  with 
the  regulations,  and  throw  garbage  and  house-slops  anywhere. 

The  non-removal  of  the  old-fashioned  stationary  garbage-boxes  is  a 
nuisance  universally  complained  of.  I  have  particularly  noted  four  of 
these  nuisances  in  Sixth  Street  near  the  Bowery  ;  one  in  Second  Avenue  ; 
two  in  First  Avenue  ;  and,  strange  to  record,  one  before  each  of  the  larger 
Public  Schools. 

The  privies  are  in  most  cases  in  the  rear  court-yard.  In  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  houses  the  privies  are  connected  with  the  sewer.  Overflow- 
ing privies  are  frequently  found.  Sometimes  they  are  located  in  a  dark 
place,  which  in  all  cases  must  be  considered  an  evil.  Such  is  the  case  in 
some  houses  in  Rivington,  Stanton,  Ninth,  and  Eldridg'e  Streets.  All 
these  places  are  filthy,  and  exceedingly  offensive  and  dangerous  to  the 
whole  neighborhood  ;  in  some  places  the  foundation  of  the  privies  being 
rotten  and  broken,  and  faecal  matter  runs  into  the  cellar,  as  in  No.  — 
"  Extra  Place,"  where  diseases  and  deaths  have  occurred.  The  contents 
of  a  privy  in  a  court  at  No.  —  Fifth  Street,  have,  from  a  similar  cause, 
saturated  the  yard  of  premises  on  the  Bowery,  where  several  children 
died  during  this  summer.  Only  a  very  few  houses  have  water-closets  like 
the  modern-built  dwellings. 

Insufficient  internal  ventilation  has  been  already  mentioned.  Most 
bedrooms  in  tenant-houses  are  dark.  Some  have  a  window  toward  a 
dark  hall.  In  many  of  the  houses  ventilation  of  the  dormitories  is  an 
impossibility,  as  such  rooms  are  only  dark  and  damp  cul-de-sacs.  The 
erection  of  too  many  rear  buildings  is  objectionable,  as  it  prevents  the 
free  current  of  air.    As  an  example,  the  following  rear  buildings,  Nos.  68 


152 


REPORT  OF  TIIE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


and  70  Third  Avenue,  No.  98  East  Twelfth,  and  stables  No.  22  East 
Eleventh  Street,  are  in  one  line  with  the  two  front  houses  Nos.  22  East 
Eleventh  and  98  East  Twelfth. 


Tldrd  Avenue. 


FRONT 

No.  70. 

No.  G8. 

DWELLINGS. 

98 

•a 

70 

88 

Stable. 

No.  98 

1 

No.  22 

Rear. 

Rear. 

Rear. 

22 

No.  9G 

No.  20 

Six  buildings  are  here  crowded  upon  the  same  ground  area  as  would 
be  occupied  by  only  two  houses  in  most  other  places  ;  for  instance,  the  two 
adjoining  houses  Nos.  96  East  Twelfth  and  20  East  Eleventh  Streets. 
This  overcrowding  of  rear  buildings  prevents  the  ventilation  entirely,  and 
must  be  injurious  to  public  health.  The  same  condition  will  be  found  in 
a  whole  square  bounded  by  Bowery,  Second  Avenue,  Fifth,  and  Sixth 
Streets.  A  similar  crowding  of  buildings  exists  in  two  consecutive  squares 
between  Bowery  and  Second  Avenue  and  Houston  and  Second  Streets, 
where  scarcely  any  space  for  the  yards  is  left.  The  larger  number  of 
tenant-houses  have  no  gas,  hence  lamps  and  stoves  are  used. 

Cellar  and  Basement  Population. — Many  basements  and  cellars 
arc  inhabited.  In  15  squares  64  houses  contain  343  persons  residing  in 
basements.  In  17  squares  55  houses  contain  246  persons  living  in  cellars 
entirely  under  ground.  The  return  of  the  population  of  basements  and 
cellars  of  the  whole  district  is  not  complete,  but  in  the  remaining  squares 
not  included  in  the  above  statement,  such  a  population  is  only  scattered. 
As  a  matter  of  course  such  cellars  are  unhealthy  dwelling  apartments. 
Stanton  Place  has  some  of  these  miserable  cellar-apartments,  in  which 
diseases  have  been  generated.  These  cellars  arc  entirely  subterranean, 
dark,  and  damp.  Similar  apartments  can  be  found  at  No.  —  Thirteenth 
Street  rear.  These  apartments  arc  let  respectively  for  $2.50  and  $3.00 
per  month. 

From  the  foregoing  description  of  tenant-houses,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
laboring  classes  arc  not  living  very  comfortably  and  cheap.    Many  tenant- 


TENANT-HOUSE  IMPROVEMENTS. 


153 


houses  need  reform.  But,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  some  of  these 
buildings  are  in  a  better  condition,  and  a  few  may  be  called  "model" 
tenant-houses,  when  compared  with  others.  One  of  the  latter  sort  is  No. 
—  Allen  Street.  Both  the  front  and  rear  are  brick,  newly  built.  The 
front  house  is  4  stories,  with  a  basement,  each  10  feet  to  ceiling,  and 
arranged  for  8  families.  The  rear  building  is  3  stories  and  basement, 
each  8  feet  to  ceiling,  and  for  4  families ;  32  persons  are  living  in  both 
houses  on  a  ground  area  of  2,012  square  feet,  which  makes  to  each  per- 
son 63  square  feet.  Croton-water  and  house-drainage  is  provided  on  all 
floors.  The  privies  are  in  the  yard,  and  connected  with  the  sewer  ;  they 
are  kept  clean  and  in  good  condition.  The  ventilation  is  good,  and  all 
rooms  are  lighted.  A  sub-celler  underneath  the  basement  for  coal  and 
wood,  is  10  feet  deep.  The  halls  and  passages  are  unusually  wide  and 
pleasant ;  good  oil-cloth  is  on  the  halls,  and  the  stairs  are  covered  with 
carpet.  An  alley  leads  to  the  rear  building  on  Allen  Street.  Gas  is  in 
all  apartments,  and  in  the  hall.  The  door  is  kept  locked,  and  the  bell 
promptly  answered.  The  proprietor,  a  tailor,  resides  on  the  first  floor, 
and  is  very  particular  with  his  tenants.  Even  this  model  tenant-house 
has  its  disadvantages,  which  consist  in  the  lack  of  good  external  ventila- 
tion, which  is  prevented  by  the  crowding  of  the  buildings  and  the  close 
proximity  (in  the  rear)  of  Nos.  184  and  184£  Eldridge  Street, 
which  has  been  mentioned  as  a  nuisance.  Similarly  good  substantial 
tenant-houses  can  be  found  at  No.  239  Ninth  Street  and  No.  30  Sixth 
Street,  etc. 

In  erecting  new  tenement  buildings  an  entirely  new  system  should  be 
introduced.  The  demand  for  proper  ventilation  cannot  be  pressed  too 
urgently.  The  arrangement  of  the  dormitories  is  an  important  point. 
If  dark  rooms  cannot  be  avoided,  why  not  place  there  the  kitchen  and 
store-rooms.  Some  part  of  the  lot  ought  to  be  devoted  to  a  yard,  and 
should  not  be  obstructed  with  rear  buildings.  Good  fire-escapes,  wider 
halls,  passages,  and  stairways,  are  needed  as  further  improvements.  A 
common  wash-house  ought  to  be  attached  to  each  tenant-house,  which 
would  improve  materially  the  cleanliness  of  the  people  and  their  dwell- 
ings. Good  sewerage,  house  drainage,  Croton-water,  and  gas,  and  the 
proper  arrangement  and  condition  of  the  privies,  are  the  next  important 
questions  for  improvement. 

Drinking  Saloons,  etc. — Very  little  can  be  said  about  these  places. 
Complaints  have  been  made  of  but  two  of  the  places.  Except  some  of 
the  low  drinking  shops,  most  of  them  are  kept  in  a  good  sanitary  condi- 
tion.   The  following  is  their  classification  : 


154 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Dram-shops,   102 

Private  supper  rooms,           .....  3 

Assignation  houses,    ......  3 

Concert  saloons,  with  (pretty?)  waiter  girls,   .       .  3 

Groceries,  with  bars,  ......  64 

Lager  bier  saloons,   82 

Brothels,   9 

Hotels,   4 

Total,   270 


Stores,  Markets,  etc. — There  are  in  the  district  499  stores  and 
53  markets.  The  stores  include  all  varieties  of  business,  and  are  gener- 
ally situated  on  the  avenues  and  in  the  Bowery.  Warerooms  attached 
to  factories,  and  other  varieties  of  business,  which  are  enumerated  under 
their  respective  heads,  are  not  included  in  the  above  number.  The  mar- 
kets are  for  the  sale  of  meat,  fish,  and  oysters,  and  are  scattered  in  all 
parts  of  the  district.  Tompkins'  Market  is  the  only  public  market,  and 
has  38  stands.  This  market  is  kept  clean,  and  good  order  prevails.  The 
building  has  been  erected  recently. 

There  are  53  factories  of  various  kinds  in  this  district. 

Shops. — There  are  154  shops.  Some  of  these  are  attached  to  fac- 
tories, but  for  most  part  are  only  small  shops,  in  which  tailors  and  shoe- 
makers are  largely  represented.  The  book-bindery  and  printing  establish- 
ment of  the  Bible-house  employs  450  persons,  of  which  more  than  one- 
half  are  females.  The  various  work-rooms  of  this  establishment  aro  in 
elegant  order,  and  the  rooms  arc  spacious  and  airy. 

Miscellaneous  Business. — There  are  not  specified  the  following 
kinds  of  business : 


Brewers,         .....  2 

Distillery,     .....  1 

Coal  yards,   5 

Lumber  yards,      ....  2 

Marble  yards,  ....  8 


Slaughter-Houses. — 

Total  Number  of  Slaughter-houses,      ...  38 

"          "        Fat-houses,    ....  2 

"           "         Hide  and  fat-houses,         .       .  4 

"           "         Butchers'  hide  and  fat  association,  1 


* 


SLAUGHTER-PENS ,  THLRTY-EIGIIT  DESCRIBED. 


155 


Total  Number  of  Provision  and  packing-houses, 

"  "         Provision-houses,  occasionally  fat-boil- 

ing, of  which  complaints  have  been 
made,  ..... 


9 


2 


Classification  of  Slaughter-houses,  according  to  the  animals  hilled  there: 
Where  all  kinds  of  animals  are  killed,  ...  8 


beeves  "  14 

beeves  and  calves  "  ...  4 

calves  only  "              .  1 

sheep  "  ...  9 

calves  and  sheep  "             .       .  1 

swine  "  1 


Total, 


38 


These  38  slaughter-houses  are  kept  variously  in  regard  to  cleanliness 
and  arrangements,  and  can  be  classified  as  follows  : 

(a.)  The  best  establishments  are  kept  in  a  superior  style,  and  in  such 
order  and  cleanliness  that  complaints  never  are  made  of  them. 
This  class  I  found  clean  at  all  times  and  seasons,  and  under 
all  disadvantages.  There  are  five  that  may  be  reckoned  in 
this  class : 


(1.)  190  Forsyth  Street. 

(2.)  The  hoggery,  198-202  Forsyth,  and  183  and  185  Eldridge 


Street. 
(3.)  185  Ninth  Street. 
(4.)  73  Second  Street. 
(5.)  134  Fifth  Street. 

(6.)  Slaughter-houses  which  are   kept  clean  and  in  good  order, 

according  to  the  present  laws.    To  this  class  belong  16. 
(c.)  Kept  with  less  care,  9. 

(d.)  This  fourth  class  of  butcheries  comprises  those  that  are  in  a 

filthy  and  bad  condition,  cleansed  once  a  week,  6. 
(e.)  The  worst  class — perpetual  nuisances,  2. 

A  reform  and  better  arrangements  and  regulation  of  slaughter-houses 
is  urgently  needed,  and  some  steps  ought  to  be  taken  immediately  to 
secure  the  desired  improvement.  If  we  cannot  at  once  obtain  all  the 
reforms  that  are  desirable,  we  can  certainly  render  these  establishments 
less  obnoxious  to  the  public  health  and  convenience  by  securing : — 


156 


REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


1.  The  restriction  of  slaughter-houses  to  certain  localities. 

2.  That  all  slaughter-houses  shall  be  connected  with  the  sewers. 

3.  That  the  driving  of  herds  of  cattle  shall  be  restricted  to  certain 
streets  and  hours. 

4.  That  blood  and  all  fluids  shall  flow  directly  into  the  sewer.  If  the 
blood  is  preserved  for  other  purposes,  it  should  be  collected  immediately, 
and  kept  in  air-tight  vessels. 

5.  The  utmost  cleanliness,  and  the  most  careful  removal  of  offal,  etc., 
within  a  certain  time  after  killing. 

6.  The  offal  and  all  refuse  to  be  carried  away,  should  be  thrown 
into  air-tight  vessels  immediately  after  being  separated  from  the  animal. 

7.  That  persons  employed  to  remove  such  offal  and  other  solids,  shall 
cany  them  in  air-tight  vessels,  and  leave  empty  vessels  of  the  same  kind 
in  their  places. 

8.  The  killing  and  slaughtering  process  shall  be  carried  on  in  the 
rear  of  the  lot,  away  from  the  street,  in  order  that  curious  people  and 
children  cannot  witness  it. 

9.  The  stable  manure  to  be  kept  in  covered  well-built  sinks,  with 
an  outlet  of  the  fluid  parts  into  the  sewer,  and  removed  within  certain 
periods. 

10.  Fat-boiling  to  be  strictly  prohibited,  and  fat  and  hides  kept  as 
stated  under  No.  6. 

11.  Strict  vigilance  for  the  observation  of  the  above  rules  to  be 
maintained,  and  the  prompt  infliction  of  fines  in  every  case  of  neglect 
shall  be  enforced. 

The  utility  of  a  faithful  observance  of  these  rules  must  be  obvious,  as 
such  observance  would  prevent  any  nuisance,  disease,  or  even  unpleasant 
smell  and  sight.  Such  rules  for  slaughter-houses  may  even  be  extended 
to  further  details,  by — 

Inspection  of  cattle  and  meat,  to  exclude  unhealthy  meats  from  the 
markets. 

A  regulation  of  the  size  of  slaughter-houses,  in  order  to  secure  the 
proper  kind  of  buildings  for  the  business  carried  on. 

During  warm  weather  slaughtering  should  be  allowed  only  at  nights, 
and  offal  should  be  carried  off  before  six  o'clock  A.M. 

These  rules  and  suggestions  would  not  exclude  other  improvements, 
nor  the  introduction  of  abattoirs.  That  slaughter-houses  may  and  can 
be  kept  clean,  even  under  the  present  system,  with  all  the  disadvantages, 
may  be  proved  by  an  examination  of  several  of  these  establishments. 

Two  cattle  markets,  for  the  sale  of  Bhcep  principally,  arc  kept  in 


158  REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

Sixth  Street,  between  Bowery  and  Second  Avenue,  nnder  the  name  of 
"  Central  Bull's  Head,"  close  to  the  fashionable  quarters  of  the  17th  and 
15th  Wards.  14,000  sheep  can  be  kept  here,  besides  some  hundred  bead 
of  cattle.* 

Schools,  Churches,  and  Medical  Charitles. — The  churches  with- 
in  this  district  belong  to  the  following  denominations  : 


Synagogues,  ........  2 

Episcopal,   2 

Methodist,   1 

Baptist,     ........  2 

Presbyterian,        .......  3 

Roman  Catholic,       ......  1 

German  Evangelic,   2 

"       Lutheran,     ......  1 

Total,   14 


There  are  four  public  schools,  and  three  schools  attached  to 
churches. 

Tbere  are  six  Dispensaries  and  other  medical  charities,  viz. :  A 
Homoeopathic  Dispensary  in  Eleventh  Street ;  the  German  Dispensary  in 
No.  8  Third  Street ;  the  Dispensary  of  the  Physicians  of  the  German 
Society  ;  the  Eye  Infirmary  of  New  York  ;  the  Women's  and  Children's 
Infirmary  ;  and  the  Society  for  the  relief  of  the  Ruptured  and  Crippled. 
Four  of  these  institutions  have  small  hospitals  attached. 

The  other  institutions  within  this  district  which  cannot  be  specified 
under  the  preceding  heads,  are : 

The  Historical  Society  building. 
1  Police  station  house. 
1  District  court. 

4  Armories  for  Militia  regiments. 
3  Banks. 

G  Fire  Companies. 

1  Gymnasium. 

2  Private  Observatories. 
The  Cooper  Union. 
The  Bible-house. 

•  On  page  157  the  artist  has  represented  one  of  the  scenes  that  is  daily  witnessed  in 
this  locality. 


CEMETERIES,  CHURCH- YARDS,  ETC. 


159 


Cemeteries,  Church-tards,  and  Vacant  Grounds. — The  church- 
yards, nine  in  number,  are  situated  as  follows : 

1.  Houston  Street,  between  Bowery  and  Christie  Streets. 


2.  " 

3.  " 

4.  Second  Avenue, 

5.  First  Street, 

6.  Second  Street, 

7.  Eleventh  Street, 


Christie  and  Forsyth  Streets. 
Forsyth  and  Eldridge  Streets. 
Second  and  Third  Streets. 
First  and  Second  Avenues. 


8.  First  Avenue,        "       Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Streets. 

9.  Second  Avenue,  around  St.  Mark's  Church. 


Most  of  these  graveyards  are  in  good  order ;  two,  Nos.  4  and  6,  are 
even  ornamental.  One,  No.  5,  is  in  the  centre  of  the  square  ;  the  only 
access  to  it  being  through  the  playground  of  the  Public  School. 

From  one,  No.  7,  the  human  remains  have  been  removed  during  the 
last  summer.  Only  one,  No.  2,  needs  a  thorough  cleaning,  as  all  kinds 
of  articles  are  found  scattered  in  it,  as  dead  cats  and  dogs,  broken  bottles, 
old  shoes,  rags,  etc. 

There  are  several  vacant  lots  that  are  in  a  most  horrible  condition. 
They  are  the  reservoir  of  all  kinds  of  rubbish.  The  whole  appearance 
of  these  places  is  disgusting  and  unhealthy.  During  inspection  these  lots 
were  partly  covered  with  stagnant  water,  stones,  bricks,  pieces  of  old  tin 
and  mats,  human  excrements  in  large  quantities,  stable  manure,  old  boots 
and  shoes,  pieces  of  old  hoop-skirts,  dead  cats,  decomposing  potatoes, 
ashes,  and  chickens. 

Nuisances. — These  have  been  already  mentioned  at  length  under 
their  respective  heads.    The  following  is  a  list  of  the  principal  ones  : 

1.  The  insufficient  bad  sewerage,  with  all  its  consequences. 

2.  The  houses  Nos.  —  and  —  Eldridge  Street. 

3.  The  dirty  state  of  some  parts  of  the  streets  and  gutters. 

4.  The  bad  pavement  in  some  localities. 

5.  The  cellars  in  "  Extra  Place  "  being  foul  with  fascal  matter. 

7.  The  coal  yard,  No.  —  Bowery,  occupying  the  first  floor  for  a  whole 
block,  from  which  emanates  foul  air  into  "  Extra  Place."  * 

7.  An  insalubrious  locality  situated  between  the  walls  of  the  large 
provision  store,  No.  —  First  Street,  and  the  rear  buildings  of  Second 
Street.  This  is  a  narrow  place,  into  which  the  tenants  of  the  rear  build- 
ings have  thrown  manure,  slops,  garbage,  etc. ;  these  have  accumulated 
*  Sec  the  diagram  of  this  locality  next  page. 


160  REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


STREET 


The  above  Diagram  presents  a  square  in  which  some  of  the  faults  of  overcrowding 
are  strikingly  depicted.*  In  the  very  midst  of  this  agglomeration  of  domiciles  and  great 
business  establishments  a  slaughter-house  is  located.  This,  with  the  stables  at  the  ter- 
minus of  Extra  Place,  must  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  nuisance,  and  probably  they  to- 
gether help  account  for  the  diseases  that  are  most  prevalent  in  that  cul-de-sac. 

The  crowding  of  the  buildings — almost  entirely  without  yards,  and  consisting  of  an 
exterior  line  of  dwellings,  surrounding  an  immense  packing-house,  a  slaughter-pen,  various 
shops,  and  a  foundry— is  such  as  to  preclude  proper  external  ventilation  on  the  one  hand, 
while  those  interior  structures  and  the  business  pursued  in  them  are  sources  of  offence 
against  sanitary  laws.  The  Inspector  presents  the  ground-plan  sketch  of  this  square  as  an 
illustration  of  an  evil  that  is  rapidly  increasing  in  various  sections  of  his  district. 

The  little  square  here  represented  contains  51  front  houses,  mostly  dwellings ;  rear 
buildings,  including  those  on  "  Extra  Place,"  15 ;  there  are  5  alleys,  and  one  prolonged 
cul-de-sac,  which  being  narrow  and  enclosed  on  all  sides  and  directly  behind  rear  tenant- 
houses,  and  upon  the  south  side  faced  by  the  high  walls  of  a  provision-packing  house,  has 
become  a  gross  nuisance— a  cloacal  depot,  into  which  are  promiscuously  thrown  slops, 
garbage,  and  exuviae,  until  it  has  become  a  fountain  of  typhoid  infection. 

The  following  extracts  from  sanitary  inspection  reports  made  concerning  diseases 
in  this  locality,  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  nature  of  the  perils  to  which  these  domiciles  are 
exposed : 

First  Case— Mrs.  ,  No.  —  "  Extra  Place,"  mother  of  five  children,  had  a  long  period 

of  incubation  of  the  typhoid  infection ;  died  on  the  thirteenth  day  after  the  physician  was  call- 
ed. Cause— foul  emanations  from  local  nuisances  in  the  vicinity  of  the  dwelling ;  three  families 
in  this  house  are  exposed  to  the  same  sources  of  infection.  The  allowance  of  ground  area 
to  each  person  in  this  house  is  44  square  feet ;  the  average  or  pro  rata  allowance  of  air- 
space to  each  person  in  this  domicile  is  402  cubic  feet. 

Second  Oau. — Hrs.  ,  No.  —  "Extra  Place,"  is  in  the  rear,  opposite  the  houso 

formerly  reported  in  same  locality ;  patient  was  the  mother  of  four  children ;  had  been 
.constantly  exposed  to  the  foul  emanations  from  unclean  and  leaking  privies  of  the  rear 
tenements,  as  well  as  to  the  exhalations  from  a  slaughter-pen  and  the  stables  near  by 

She  died  on  the  sixteenth  day  after  taking  her  bed.  ^^^^ 

•  For  explanation  of  the  symbol*  used  upon  this  Diagram,  boo  Cuait  on  p.  81.— Kditob. 


INSALUBRIOUS  LOCALITIES. 


161 


there.  The  only  access  to  this  locality  is  by  means  of  the  iron  foundry 
No.  —  Second  Avenue. 

8.  The  insalubrious  locality  of  court  No.  —  Fifth  Street,  which  is 
in  a  very  filthy  condition.  One  privy  has  given  way  and  saturated  the 
soil  of  yard  No.  —  Bowery,  which  has  injured  the  health  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  latter  place. 

9.  The  yard  and  privy  of  No.  —  Sixth  Street.  The  privies  here  are 
terribly  offensive.  Garbage,  filth  of  all  varieties,  rubbish,  and  fajcal  mat- 
ter is  in  piles  in  this  yard,  and  in  such  close  proximity  to  No.  —  Fifth 
Street  that  the  basement  inhabitants  of  the  latter  house  have  a  dunghill 
before  their  window,  injurious  to  health. 

10.  The  driving  of  cattle  through  the  streets,  and  at  all  hours. 

11.  An  insalubrious  locality  in  Eleventh  Street  near  Third  Avenue, 
occasioned  by  the  fluids  of  stable  manure. 

12.  Two  packing-houses,  where  fat-boiling  is  carried  on  occasionally. 

13.  The  cellars  of  No.  —  First  Avenue,  rear  used  as  dwellings. 
One  of  these  apartments  is  in  a  particularly  bad  condition,  in  consequence 
of  an  adjoining  privy. 

14.  First  Avenue,  between  Houston  and  First  Street,  is  always 
filthy. 

15.  The  privies  and  cellars  of  —  E.  11th  Street,  rear.  The  privies 
are  beneath  the  floored  alley-way  leading  to  the  building.  Large  holes 
in  this  floor  allow  ocular  inspection  from  above,  and  admit  rain  and  dirt. 
These  nuisances  are  almost  always  overflowing,  and  the  passage  leading 
to  them  is  full  of  faecal  matter.  It  would  seem  impossible  for  human 
beings  to  create  or  endure  such  vileness.  The  cellar  is  used  by  children 
and  others  as  a  privy ;  the  foul  air  there  seems  never  to  change. 

16.  An  insalubrious  locality  in  Forsyth  Street,  near  Rivington,  where 
the  gutter  has  no  drainage.  A  calves'  head  boiling  establishment,  in  a 
shanty  near  the  corner,  and  a  slaughter-house,  aid  in  filling  up  this  list 
of  nuisances. 

17.  The  insalubrious  quarters,  No.  —  Third  Avenue. 

18.  The  construction  of  the  private  sewer  for  the  houses  No.  —  to  — 
Third  Avenue. 

19.  The  sink  at  No.  —  Rivington  Street. 

20.  The  gutter  before  No.  —  Stanton  Street. 

21.  The  insalubrious  quarters  at  No.  —  Stanton  Street. 

22.  The  condition  of  the  sidewalk  in  Stanton  Street,  between  Eldridge 
and  Allen  Streets. 

23.  The  condition  of  Stanton  Place. 

24.  The  ugly  stationary  garbage-boxes  in  different  parts  of  the  district. 

11 


162  REPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


25.  A  cesspool  at  No.  —  Stanton  Street. 

26.  The  location  of  privies  in  dark  cellars. 

27.  The  condition  of  privies  in  general,  and  their  foundation  given 
way,  as  for  instance  in  No.  —  E.  Eleventh  Street. 

28.  The  insalubrious  locality,  Sixth  Street,  between  Bowery  and 
Second  Avenue. 

39.  The  "  fever-nest,"  Court  No.  —  E.  Eleventh  Street,  with  its  sur- 
roundings. 

30.  Two  slaughter-houses,  kept  particularly  unclean. 

31.  The  want  or  insufficiency  of  fire-escapes  in  crowded  and  high 
tenant-houses. 

Diseases. — During  the  past  spring  and  summer  the  following  dis- 
eases have  been  observed  to  be  very  prevalent : 

I.  In  Thirteenth  Street,  between  Third  and  Fourth  Avenue,  cholera 
infantum  and  measles. 

2.  Extra  Place,  cholera  infantum,  typhus,  and  diphtheria. 

3.  First  Street,  cholera  infantum. 

4.  Fifth  Street,  small-pox. 

5.  Sixth  Street,  measles  and  diphtheria. 

6.  Ninth  Street,  typhus  and  measles. 

7.  Eleventh  Street,  cholera  infantum. 

8.  Thirteenth  Street,  typhoid  fever. 

9.  First  Avenue,  typhus,  etc. 
10.  First  Avenue,  small-pox. 

II.  Eleventh  Street,  typhus. 

12.  Twelfth  Street,  typhoid. 

13.  Eleventh  Street,  typhus. 

14.  "         "  " 

15.  "  "  " 
1G.  Thirteenth  Street,  " 

17.  "  "  measles. 

18.  Fifth  Street,  typhus. 

19.  First  Street,  small-pox. 

20.  Fourth  Street,  typhoid  fever. 

21.  Stanton  Place,  typhus  " 

The  causes  of  these  diseases  have  already  been  referred  to,  and  havo 
been  detailed  in  the  special  reports.  Generally  a  number  of  similar  cases 
could  be  traced  from  one  patient  to  another ;  hence  contagion  was  clearly 
proven.  The  insalubrious  quarters  or  neighborhood  of  such  places  often 
generate  and  perpetuate  these  diseases. 

In  one  instance  the  origin  of  typhus  fever  was  traced  to  an  immigrant 


FEVEK-NESTS. — "VICTIMS. 


163 


who  was  suffering  with  this  malady.  A  friend  of  that  patient  visited 
her,  and  soon  after  was  attacked  by  the  same  disease.  This  friend,  a  girl 
living  in  Eleventh  Street,  conveyed  the  malady  by  contagion  to  several 

other  persons.    One  of  these  parties  was  Mrs.  ,  East  Twelfth  Street. 

Eight  individuals  belonging  to  her  family  were  attacked  with  fever, 
contracted  while  nursing  the  father.  These  eight  persons-  were  residing 
in  different  parts  of  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 

The  spread  of  pestilential  diseases  by  fomites  is  a  subject  worthy  of 
consideration.  Several  instances  have  come  under  my  observation  where 
small-pox  and  fever  have  apparently  been  spread  in  this  way.  Other  in- 
spectors have  also  reported  similar  cases. 

The  most  notable  fever-nest  of  this  district  is  the  Court  No.  —  East 
Eleventh  Street.  Nearly  all  the  causes  for  generating  and  perpetuating 
this  disease  exist  there.  It  is  an  insalubrious  and  crowded  locality,  sur- 
rounded with  junk-shops,  second-hand  clothing  stores,  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  the  lowest  drinking  places  ;  a  transient  population  fill  the  tenements 
who  introduce  maladies  by  contagion  and  fomites.  Some  of  the  apart- 
ments in  this  court  are  used  only  as  lodgings.  People  without  a  home, 
professional  beggars  and  vagabonds,  lodge  here,  and  sleep  in  their  clothes 
on  the  floors  in  an  already  overpopulated  apartment. 

Insalubrious  localities  and  quarters  often  exist  withoiit  diseases.  The 
only  explanation  of  such  occurrence  is,  that  other  influences  counterbal- 
ance the  causes  of  disease.  Such  influences  are  :  1.  The  natural  healthi- 
ness of  the  district,  as  good  drainage,  soil,  elevation,  and  a  pure  air.  2. 
The  habit  of  the  population  as  to  cleanliness  in  their  persons  and  domi- 
ciles. 3.  The  peculiar  constitution  of  the  individuals  as  to  insuscep- 
tibility. 

RECAPITULATION  OF  STATISTICS* 

Total  number  of  buildings,  .....  2,354 

Vacant  lots,     .......  38 

Grave-yards,          ......  9 

Courts,            .......  46 

Alleys,        .......  160 

Rear  buildings,            ......  272 

Tenant-houses,        ......  734 

Cellar  and  basement  population,          ....  589 

*  It  has  been  found  necessary  greatly  to  condense  the  elaborate  statistics  submitted 
by  the  Sanitary  Inspector  of  this  district. — Editor. 


164 


KEPORT  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  SAOTTAKT  DISTRICT. 


Population. 

No.  of  families  in  private  dwellings  2,107. 

"  "     in  tenant-houses  5,872.    Total,  7,979  families. 

Total  population,  39,890. 

The  average  of  ground  area  to  each  person  living  in  tenant-houses  is  4C 


square  feet. 

Stores  and  Business. 

Stores,          .          .          .          .          .          .          .  499 

Markets  of  all  grades,       .          .          .          .  53 

Lager  hier  saloons,     ......  82 

Groceries  with  bar,       ......  64 

Dram-shops,  .           .          .          .          .          .          .  102 

Classification  of  Buildings. 

Private  dwelling-houses,      .....  1,204 

Tenant-houses,            ......  734 

Stores,  factories,  shops,  etc.            ....  123 

Slaughter-houses,         ......  38 

Packing-houses,  fat  and  hide  houses,  etc.,    .          .          .  17 

Churches,         .......  14 

Schools,      .......  7 

Hotels,  saloons,  armories,  etc.,             ....  48 

Stables,      .......  116 

Miscellaneous,  not  specified  here,         ....  53 


Total,  2,354 


EEPOET 


OP  THE 

FOURTEENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


EDWARD  W.  DERBY,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundakies. — North  by  Bast  Fourteenth  Street,  east  by  Avenue  B, 
south  by  Bivington  Street,  and  west  by  First  Avenue — not  including  any 
portion  of  that  avenue.  This  district  comprises  the  eastern  half  of  the  Sev- 
enteenth Ward. 

Topography. — The  grade  of  the  district  may  be  said  to  be  low,  and 
the  surface  level,  as  the  upper  two-thirds  have  been  reclaimed  from  the 
river  shore.  The  soil  is  for  the  most  part  sandy,  except  that  of  the  made 
ground,  which  is  necessarily  made  of  refuse  material.  A  general  ten- 
dency to  humidity  prevails,  which,  as  a  matter  of  course,  affects  more  or 
less  the  health  of  those  who  occupy  the  ill-ventilated  and  insufficiently- 
warmed  basements. 

Streets. — The  streets  run  nearly  north  and  south  and  east  and  west, 
are  of  the  usual  width,  paved  with  cobble  stone,  except  Tenth  Street, 
which  has  Belgian  pavement,  and  are  seldom  clean  except  for  a  few  hours 
after  being  swept ;  a  process  to  which  they  are  not  often  subjected.  The 
gutters,  as  a  general  rule,  in  front  of  the  tenant-houses,  overflow  with 
filth,  and  are  made  the  receptacles  of  the  decaying  vegetable  and  animal 
refuse,  and  the  ashes  of  the  different  families,  into  which  they  are  habit- 
ually thrown,  and  which,  under  the  influence  of  the  rays  of  the  summer's 
sun,  exhale  miasmata  that  must  and  do  materially  affect  the  health  of  the 
surrounding  population. 

Sewers. — Sewers  exist  I  believe  in  every  street,  are  for  the  most  part 
connected  with  the  houses,  and  generally  suffice  for  their  drainage  ;  but 
in  not  a  few  instances  these  become  choked,  and  contribute  their  share  of 
foetid  exhalations  to  the  general  insalubrity. 


166 


REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Squares. — The  district  is  composed  of  37  squares,  covered  with  ten- 
ant-houses, generally  of  a  poor  character,  in  good  or  bad  repair  according 
as  they  are  new  or  old,  about  1,700  in  number,  and  occupied  by  about 
18,000  families.  The  character  of  the  population  of  these  squares  being 
almost  identical,  and  they  being  subjected  alike  to  the  negligence  of  the 
municipal  authorities,  their  sanitary  conditions  do  not  materially  differ. 
The  deleterious  influences  of  this  neglect  of  cleanliness  on  the  part  of  the 
authorities  and  the  inhabitants  are  apparent.  It  might  be  expected  that 
the  atmosphere,  surcharged  with  the  noxious  gases  resulting  from  animal 
and  vegetable  decomposition,  together  with  the  production  of  what  our 
learned  Professor  Joseph  M.  Smith  has  termed  "  Idio-miasma,"  from 
the  cutaneous  exhalations  of  filthy  skins  in  crowded  and  ill-ventilated 
apartments,  might  be  expected  to  be  productive  of  an  extreme  degree  of 
typhoid  or  malignant  febrile  disease.  Such  cases  undoubtedly  do  occur  ; 
and  if  with  a  degree  of  frequency  less  than  might  have  been  anticipated, 
it  is  not  either  to  any  attention  to  sanitary  regulations  on  the  part  of  the 
inhabitants,  or  of  the  authorities,  that  this  immunity  is  due. 

Inhabitants. — The  inhabitants  of  this  sanitary  district  are,  for  the 
most  part,  Irish  or  German,  the  former  predominating,  and  are  of  the  la- 
boring class,  poor,  imperfectly  nourished  upon  salted  and  vegetable  food — 
chiefly  cabbage — uncleanly  in  their  persons  and  habits,  and  grossly  ad- 
dicted to  intemperance,  that  fertile  source  of  vice,  misery,  and  crime. 

Buildings. — There  are  but  few  private  dwellings,  churches,  or  manu- 
factories, and  what  private  dAvellings  there  are  were  generally  built  some 
years  since,  and  are  for  the  most  part  wanting  in  what  are  called  the  modern 
conveniences.  The  houses  are  the  usual  three  to  six-story  brick  tene- 
ments, generally  out  of  repair.  The  water  is  most  frequently  located  in 
the  halls  or  yards,  affording  uo  means  of  bathing.  The  halls,  except  the 
lowest  and  top  ones,  are  always  dark  ;  and  the  rooms  are  lighted  by  the 
various  oils  now  in  use,  which  contribute  their  carbon  for  the  still  further 
deterioration  of  the  already  impure  and  exhausted  atmosphere.  There 
arc  also  many  families  of  mechanics  of  more  temperate  habits,  whose  com- 
forts are  consequently  greater.  The  nationality  of  most  of  these  is  Eu- 
ropean. As  might  be  expected,  the  sickness  and  mortality  among  the 
former  of  these,  owing  to  the  paucity  and  bad  quality  of  their  food,  and 
the  numerous  existing  sources  of  constant  vitiation,  is  much  greater. 

The  privies  are  located  in  the  yards,  in  close  proximity  to  the  houses, 
and  are  in  the  disgusting  condition  which  might  be  expected,  being  pro- 
miscuously used  by  persons  unaccustomed  to  habits  of  cleanliness  and  re- 
gardless of  decency.  These,  too,  add  their  reeking  flavors  to  the  other 
perfumes  of  which  these  districts  abound,  and  to  the  malariousucss  of  the 


THE  TENANT-HOUSES  AND  DRAM-SHOPS. 


167 


atmosphere.  Much  has  been  said  of  late*  in  reference  to  sanitary  matters, 
upon  the  subject  of  the  overcrowding  of  tenant-houses.  I  can  add  my 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  such  statements,  and  the  hygienic  influence  of 
the  evil.  Rooms  that  are  overcrowded  are  for  the  most  part  badly  ven- 
tilated, and  either  too  hot  or  too  cold.  If  fuel  be  deficient,  the  windows 
and  crevices  are  stopped,  and  the  noxious  emanations  of  dirty  people  are 
confined  by  equally  dirty  fomites.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  room  is  small, 
it  is  overheated,  and  the  cutaneous  secretions  are  thereby  increased  ;  and 
they,  not  being  removed  by  subsequent  ablutions,  become  prolific  sources 
of  cutaneous  and  febrile  diseases.  The  fecundity  of  the  poor  has  long 
been  a  matter  of  remark.  The  number  of  diseases  which  menace  and 
destroy  infantile  existence  seem  almost  a  providential  interference  to  pre- 
vent an  excess  of  population  over  and  above  that  which  the  means  of  the 
parents  could  possibly  support.  Nor,  when  we  reflect  upon  the  condition 
in  which  these  unfortunate  children  are  found  to  exist,  and  the  many  cb> 
cumstances,  moral  and  hygienic,  by  which  they  are  surrounded,  do  we 
wonder  less  at  the  amount  of  sickness  and  mortality  among  them  than 
that  it  is  not  greater ;  less  that  they  die  than  they  survive. 

Dram-Shops. — The  low  groggeries  and  groceries,  in  all  of  which  liq- 
uors are  sold,  are  constantly  thronged,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  with  members 
of  both  sexes,  youth  and  old  age  vieing  with  each  other  as  to  their  capa- 
bilities of  drinking,  enriching  the  proprietors  of  these  places,  spending  their 
last  penny  in  gratifying  their  morbidly-debased  appetite  rather  than  pur- 
chasing the  necessaries  of  life  for  their  families,  and  then  issuing  forth  or 
being  thrust  out  upon  the  streets  in  various  stages  of  intoxication,  half- 
crazed  with  the  vile  and  poisoned  liquor  they  have  swallowed,  fit  subjects 
for  the  committing  of  the  many  crimes  which  are  daily  chronicled  in  our 
papers.  Such  are  the  places  which  stare  you  in  the  face  at  every  step,  a 
disgrace  to  the  city,  and  a  prolific  source  of  corruption  to  the  morals  of 
the  surrounding  inhabitants. 

Stores. — There  are  many  stores  of  all  kinds  occupying  the  first  floors 
of  the  tenant-houses,  having,  no  doubt,  when  occupied  as  butcher-shops, 
sausage-making  establishments,  and  receptacles  for  old  rags,  a  deleterious 
influence  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  floors  immediately  over  them. 

Factories. — There  is  but  one  to  which  my  attention  has  been  espe- 
cially directed  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view,  and  that  is  a  varnish  factory 
on  the  northeast  corner  of  Rivington  and  Norfolk  Streets.  The  odor 
arising  from  the  materials  used  is  very  offensive  to  the  smell ;  the  effect 
of  which  may  be  injurious  to  the  health  of  those  in  the  neighborhood,  by 
interrupting  healthy  nutrition,  and  add  its  quota  to  the  many  surrounding 
malarious  influences. 


168 


REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Slaughter-Houses. — The  slaughter-houses  are  not  so  numeroues  in 
my  district  as  in  some  of  the  others,  ten  or  twelve  heing  all  that  I  could 
find ;  but  though  few  in  number  they  are  not  the  less  an  evil  and  a 
nuisance,  as  they  are  always  to  be  found  in  a  filthy  condition,  exhaling 
the  most  offensive  odors,  reeking  with  decomposing  offal,  and  offensive 
alike  to  morality  and  senses.  Although  they  are  not  in  themselves,  so  far 
as  I  can  ascertain,  productive  of  disease,  yet  they  do,  no  doubt,  add  their 
full  share  to  the  many  provocative  influences  which  are  so  indigenous  to  a 
tenement  neighborhood.  The  moral  influence,  however,  which  they  exert 
upon  the  younger  population  is  greatly  to  be  deplored,  as  they  are  gen- 
erally open  to  the  view  of  the  many  passers-by,  and  the  doors  are  con- 
stantly thronged  with  wondering,  admiring  children,  who  are  eager  listen- 
ers to  the  not  very  elegant  language  which  pertains  to  the  slaughter-house, 
and  who  thus  become  habituated  to  scenes  of  blood  and  violence,  and  to 
language  which  is  stamped  upon  their  memory  never  to  be  forgotten. 

Tompkins'  Square,  which  from  its  size  forms  very  useful  lungs  in 
the  ventilation  of  the  district,  and  the  circulation  of  pure  air  which  it 
affords,  contributes  largely,  no  doubt,  in  aid  of  its  healthfulness.  It  is  very 
much  to  be  desired  in  the  planning  of  all  large  cities,  that  wide  open 
parks  should  be  laid  out ;  and  this  feature  of  our  city  as  contrasted  with 
the  closely-built  and  ill-ventilated  old  cities  of  Europe,  contributes  in  a 
large  degree  to  the  greater  immunity  from  miasmatic  fevers  which  it  en- 
joys. A  Roman  Catholic  burial  ground  is  situated  within  my  district, 
but  I  am  not  aware  that  interments  are  now  made  in  it,  nor  do  I  know 
that  it  exerts  any  deleterious  influence  on  the  sanitary  condition  of  the 
district. 

Diseases. — I  may  mention  that  the  diseases  which  generally  consti- 
tute the  most  fatal  scourges  of  children,  are  cholera  infantum  in  summer, 
and  in  winter  the  contagious  exanthemata,  and  the  effects  of  cold  upon 
the  respiratory  apparatus.  Not  a  few  fall  victims  also  to  diseases  arising 
from  scrofula  in  the  brain  and  its  meninges,  derived  from  an  inherited 
cachexia,  and  from  sympathetic  ecclampsia  of  the  brain  and  spinal  mar- 
row depending  on  gastric  irritation  arising  from  improper  nourishment. 

Signs  of  congenital  contamination  are  not  unfrequently  met  with  in 
these  unfortunate  children,  who  are  doomed  to  expiate  in  their  own  per- 
sons the  sins  of  their  parents  for  many  generations.  Among  the  other 
diseases  to  which  my  attention  in  the  daily  pursuit  of  my  arduous  Dis- 
pensary duties  is  most  frequently  called,  are  typhus  and  typhoid  fevers ; 
diseases  occurring  for  the  most  part  in  adult  people,  spreading  by  infec- 
tion, and  communicating  by  contagion,  and  inspiring,  like  small-pox,  the 
most  intense  dread  and  fear,  which  materially  interferes  with  the  welfare 


HOW  INFECTIOUS  DISEASES  SPREAD. 


169 


of  the  sufferers  by  preventing  them  from  being  properly  nursed — which 
endangers  the  life  of  the  disinterested  physician  when  called  to  administer 
to  his  necessities,  and  to  whose  malign  influence  many  a  promising  votary 
of  our  science  has  fallen  a  premature  victim — may  be  said  to  be  the  es- 
pecial scourge  of  the  poor. 

According  to  my  views  and  observation  the  spread  of  this  disease  has 
been  materially  increased  during  the  war  by  the  frequent  influx  of  retired 
or  discharged  soldiers  to  their  families  and  friends,  fresh  from  the  field  or 
the  hospital,  and  bearing  in  their  persons  or  their  clothing  the  seeds  of 
the  disease.  I  need  not  say  that  the  total  absence  of  any  thing  like  proper 
disinfection  of  their  apartments  tends  to  continue  the  disease  for  an  inde- 
finite period  after  the  removal  of  the  original  cause,  to  the  detriment  of 
the  successive  members  of  the  same  family  or  those  coming  after  them. 

There  is  yet  to  be  mentioned  another  cause,  which  is,  and  long  had 
been,  a  fruitful  one  in  the  propagation  of  disease  :  I  mean  the  immigrants. 
In  what  way  or  in  what  manner  the  wafting  of  the  many  diseases  which 
always  are  their  companions,  can  be  better  guarded  against  than  at 
present,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  ;  the  existing  laws,  if  properly  executed, 
are  I  think  as  effectual  as  possible  ;  indeed  I  know  not  if  the  usefulness 
of  the  immigrant  does  not  counterbalance  the  evils  that  accompany  him. 

Diarrhoea,  from  various  causes,  chiefly  amongst  children  and  drunk- 
ards, running  into  dysentery  which  occasionally  terminates  in  collapse,  is 
frequently  met  with.  In  this  connection  I  would  observe  that  I  have 
been  visiting  Physician  to  the  Eastern  Dispensary  for  the  last  seven  years, 
and  during  that  period  have  visited  at  least  twelve  thousand  patients ; 
and  amid  all  the  deleterious  influences  to  which  I  have  been  so  freely  and 
constantly  subjected,  I  have  graciously  been  permitted  thus  far  to  escape 
unharmed.  My  sole  preventives  from  contagion  have  been  fearlessness, 
strictly  temperate  habits,  and  walking  instead  of  riding  during  the  per- 
formance of  my  professional  duties,  whereby  the  miasmata  to  which  I 
have  been  exposed  have  escaped  into  the  surrounding  and  open  atmos- 
phere. While  on  the  subject  of  diseases,  I  will  enumerate  the  number 
of  cases  of  typhus  and  typhoid  fevers,  diarrhoea,  rubeola,  scarlatina,  and 
variola,  that  I  have  visited  in  my  dispensary  district  during  the  past  eleven 
months  : 

Typhus  and  typhoid  fevers,     .       .       .110  patients. 
Diarrhoea,  176  " 

Small-pox,  16  " 

Measles,  47  " 

Scarlatina,  20  " 

As  to  the  rate  of  mortality,  I  would  state  that  out  of  about  one  hun- 


170 


REPORT  OF  THE  FOURTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


dred  and  fifty  patients  a  month,  the  average  number  of  deaths  is  about 
five ;  but  I  do  not  wish  it  to  be  understood  that  is  the  rate  of  mor- 
tality ;  I  wish  it  were  ;  it  is  not,  and  for  these  reasons  :  First.  Dispensary 
physicians,  from  their  multitudinous  duties,  from  the  fact  that  a  tenement- 
population  is  a  migratory  one,  and  from  other  causes  which  the  physicians 
cannot  control,  are  unable  to  follow  their  patients  as.  closely  as  they  would 
like.  Second.  Many  severe  cases  that  are  not  likely  to  recover,  are  sent 
to  one  or  the  other  of  the  many  hospitals  with  which  our  city  is  so  boun- 
teously provided.  Third.  Often  when  the  sickness  is  a  grave  one  and 
tends  not  to  recovery,  the  friends  or  the  patient  become  dissatisfied,  and 
call  in  another  physician,  thereby  relieving  the  dispensary  physician  from 
further  attendance.  Fourth.  It  happens  in  many  instances,  that  when 
the  relatives  or  friends  become  fully  aware  there  is  no  possibility  of  the 
patient's  recovery,  they  needlessly  fear,  through  ignorance  or  stupidity, 
that  they  may  have  some  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  certificate  of  death  from 
the  dispensary  physician,  or  perhaps  from  a  feeling  of  pride  they  dislike  to 
have  it  attached  to  the  certificate  that  their  friend  or  relative  was  treated 
gratuitously  from  a  dispensary,  and  therefore  to  avoid  incurring  that  great 
bugbear  of  all  ignorant  persons,  a  coroner's  inquest,  they  call  in  the  nearest 
physician,  from  whom  the  requisite  certificate  is  obtained. 

Improvements. — I  regret  to  be  obliged  to  add,  that  by  no  action  of 
present  health  authorities  under  my  observation,  have  any  of  the  objec- 
tionable features  to  wliich  I  have  alluded,  been  removed  or  improved. 

Remedial  Measures. — In  reference  to  remedial  measures,  I  would 
remark  that  the  remedy  suggests  itself;  but  the  application  is  confessedly 
difficult.  To  obtain  the  willing  consent  of  persons  so  ignorant,  so  do- 
graded,  so  careless  of  their  own  best  interests,  present  or  future,  in  any 
scheme  of  hygienic  amelioration  which  should  involve  a  change  of  habit, 
abandonment  of  vice,  sacrifice  of  comfort,  or  the  increasing  of  expense, 
may  seem  to  present  some  difficult  problems,  but  such  problems  can  and 
must  be  solved  ;  and  it  is  clear  that  our  efforts  should  be  persistently  and 
strenuously  made  in  this  direction ;  and  hence  the  public  value  of  the 
work  in  which  we  all  are  so  earnestly  and  laboriously  engaged. 

Gradually,  the  words  spoken  "  in  season  and  out  of  season"  by  our 
medical  missionaries  may  effect  the  sanitary  conversion  of  some  of  these 
hardened  sinners  ;  and  it  occurs  to  me  that  the  distribution  of  tracts,  upon 
matters  connected  with  the  public  health,  among  these  dwellers  in  tenant- 
houses,  would  be  useful  to  the  health  and  salvation  of  the  body,  I  would, 
therefore,  beg  leave  to  call  the  attention  of  my  colleagues  to  this  means,  in 
addition  to  the  other  measures  which  are  now  being  employed  toward  the 
attainment  of  that  greatest  of  public  ends,  the  security  and  improve- 
ment of  the  nublic  health. 


EEPOET 


OP  THE 

FIFTEENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


JAMES    ROSS,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — This  district  comprises  the  whole  of  the  Eleventh  Ward. 
It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  East  Fourteenth  Street,  east  by  East  River, 
south  by  Rivington  Street,  and  west  by  Clinton  Street  and  Avenue  B. 

This  ward  contains  3,190  building-lots  of  ordinary  dimensions,  and 
in  1860  embraced  a  population  of  59,571  souls. 

Topography. — Two-thirds  of  this  district  were  formerly  covered  by 
the  waters  of  the  East  River  and  by  low  salt  marshes.  Twenty-one  of  the 
squares  now  cover  the  section  that  has  been  reclaimed  by  filling  and 
drainage.  The  sand  hills  that  once  skirted  the  marshy  region  have  been 
graded  down  and  used  for  filling  in  the  low  grounds. 

Drainage. — The  natural  drainage,  which  was  rather  incomplete,  was 
by  three  creeks.  The  largest  had  its  origin  west  of  the  district ;  then  run- 
ning northeast  it  crossed  Stanton  Street  near  Clinton,  Houston  near 
Sheriff,  and  Second  Street  near  Houston,  entering  the  river  at  Third 
Street.  Another  commenced  near  Avenue  A  and  Fourth  Street,  ran  with 
a  zigzag  direction  between  Sixth  and  Eighth  Streets,  and  emptied  its  slug- 
gish waters  into  the  river  near  Ninth  Street.  The  third  stream  ran 
northeastwardly  through  the  blocks  bounded  by  Eleventh  and  Fourteenth 
Streets,  Avenues  B  and  C,  reaching  the  river  at  Fourteenth  Street.*  In 
this  neighborhood  was  the  old  Stuyvesant  Skating  Pond,  where  New 
Yorkers  in  former  years  held  their  skating  carnivals. 

Sanitary  Influence  of  the  Topographical  Formation. — In  some  parts 
of  the  reclaimed  ground  in  this  district  it  has  been  necessary  to  build  the 

*  See  the  Sanitary  and  Topographical  Map  at  the  beginning  d"  this  volume. — Editor. 


172 


REPORT  OF  THE  FIFTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


houses  upon  piles.  In  numerous  cases  the  cellars  are  shallow,  which  is 
probably  a  necessity  owing  to  great  moisture  of  the  soil.  Some  have  stand- 
ing water  in  them  constantly,  and  many  of  the  inhabitants  complain  of 
the  extreme  dampness  of  their  basements.  Where  such  conditions  exist  it 
may  reasonably  be  expected  that  great  insalubrity  will  prevail.  This  fact 
finds  fearful  illustrations  in  the  inhabited  basements  and  cellars  east  of  the 
line  of  Ridge  Street  and  Avenue  C. 

Streets. — The  streets  of  the  Fifteenth  District  north  of  Houston 
Street,  consist  of  parallel  avenues  and  thirteen  streets  that  run  at  right 
angles  with  them.  They  are  all  of  sufficient  width  to  allow  of  good  exter- 
nal ventilation  to  the  several  blocks  of  buildings. 

The  avenues  are  from  55  to  70  feet  in  width,  the  streets  from  50  to 
105,  the  latter  being  the  width  of  Fourteenth  Street. 

Avenue  B,  Columbia,  Houston,  and  Tenth  Streets  are  paved  with 
trap-block  Belgian  pavement,  and  are  of  a  uniform  surface  and  in  a  fair 
condition.  All  the  other  streets  of  this  district  have  cobble-stone  pave- 
ment, are  often  uneven,  and  in  very  many  places  need  repair. 

As  a  rule  the  streets  are  extremely  dirty  and  offensive,  and  the  gutters 
obstructed  with  filth.  Occasionally  there  exists  an  exception,  which  sel- 
dom extends  for  more  than  a  block.  These  oases  are  observed  in 
those  localities  where  the  residents  have  put  in  practice  the  old  system 
which  required  every  housekeeper  or  occupant  to  keep  the  street  clean  in 
front  of  his  premises. 

The  filth  of  the  streets  is  composed  of  house-slops,  refuse  vegetables, 
decayed  fruit,  store  and  shop  sweepings,  ashes,  dead  animals,  and  even 
human  excrements.  These  putrefying  organic  substances  are  ground  to- 
gether by  the  constantly-passing  vehicles.  "When  dried  by  the  summer's 
heat  they  are  driven  by  the  wind  in  every  direction  in  the  form  of  dust. 
When  remaining  moist  or  liquid  in  the  form  of  "  slush,"  they  emit  dele- 
terious and  very  offensive  exhalations. 

Possibly  a  person  may  become  acclimated  to  such  a  locality,  or  even 
relish  after  a  time  that  which  at  first  was  very  disgusting.  If  it  is  a  fact 
that  a  person  passing  through  a  malarious  district  receives  the  germs  of 
disease  that  may  not  mature  in  many  months,  while  we  can  only  partially 
estimate  the  full  effect  of  the  miasmata  from  filthy  streets,  we  cannot 
doubt  their  injurious  influence  upon  the  public  health.  But  there  is  a  sure 
penalty  for  every  violation  of  physiological  laws.  And  we  have  abundant 
evidence  that  the  nuisances  which  exist  throughout  this  inspection  district, 
both  produce  and  localize  several  of  the  more  fatal  diseases  that  are  con- 
cerned in  giving  to  our  city  its  present  high  death-rate.  The  recking 
stench  of  the  gutters,  the  street  filth,  and  domestic  garbage  of  this  quarter 


BLOCKS  OF  DWELLINGS. — KATE  OF  CKOWDLNG. 


173 


of  the  city,  constantly  imperil  the  health  of  its  inhabitants.  It  is  a  well- 
recognized  cause  of  diarrhoeal  diseases  and  fevers. 

Sewerage. — All  of  the  avenues  are  sewered,  and  with  only  a  few  ex- 
ceptions the  streets  also.  The  street  sewers  are  egg-shaped  in  construc- 
tion, and  have  their  outlets  below  tide-water. 

The  tides  force  back  the  contents  of  the  sewers  throughout  the  lower 
level  of  the  district,  and  thereby  cause  a  noxious  reflux  of  sewer  gases. 
The  importance  of  sewer  and  drain-traps  is  here  illustrated.  Many  of 
the  houses  are  not  connected  with  the  sewers,  and  this  circumstance  adds 
to  the  filthiness  and  insalubrity  of  the  district.  In  scarcely  any  other  sec- 
tion of  the  city  can  the  importance  of  thorough  sewerage  and  skilful  house- 
drainage  and  sewer-trapping  be  more  forcibly  illustrated.  Of  course  it  is 
not  necessary  that  the  sanitary  inspector  should  present  to  a  council  of 
medical  gentlemen  any  argument  in  support  of  the  assertion  that  we  must 
attribute  to  the  imperfections  of  the  sewerage  much  of  the  typhoid  fever 
as  well  as  other  prevalent  maladies  of  the  low  districts  of  the  city.  The 
old  farmers  who  owned  these  low  grounds  in  early  times  had  them  drained 
by  deep  ditches,  simply  with  reference  to  pecuniary  advantages  to  them- 
selves ;  how  much  greater  the  importance  and  economic  value  of  thorough 
drainage  of  the  same  region,  now  that  a  population  of  sixty  thousand 
people  have  made  their  homes  upon  the  crowded  squares  that  cover  these 
old  marshes. 

Squares. — In  the  Fourteenth  District  there  are  71  squares.  But 
few  of  them  are  in  a  perfect  sanitary  condition.  The  causes  that  render 
them  insalubrious  are  numerous.  Beside  the  overcrowding  of  space 
which  we  illustrate  below,  there  is  an  entire  absence  of,  or  deficient  drain- 
age ;  there  are  dirty  streets,  neglected  privies,  filthy  alleys  and  yards. 
Many  of  the  privies  are  not  connected  with  the  sewers. 

One  square  between  Avenues  B  and  C  contains  a  little  less  than 
142,636  square  feet ;  the  number  of  persons  living  on  this  square,  ascer- 
tained by  inquiry  at  each  house,  is  1,788,  which  gives  less  than  75  feet  of 
ground  area  to  each  individual.  There  are  also  kept  on  this  square  nine 
horses,  and  a  great  number  of  dogs  and  domestic  fowls.  This  same 
square  has  88  buildings  ;  and  of  these,  85  are  dwellings,  containing  472 
families  ;  22  are  rearhouses,  having  79  families  ;  and  16  families  live  in 
basements.    Some  of  the  basements  are  cellars. 

Buildings. — The  number  of  dwellings  in  the  Eleventh  "Ward  is  2,769  ; 
of  which  number  2,152  are  tenant-houses  ;  432  are  rear  houses  ;  stores, 
825  ;  places  for  the  sale  of  liquor,  286  ;  churches,  6  ;  schools,  8  ;  public 
market,  1  ;  slaughter-houses,  19  ;  stables,  159. 

The  number  of  private  houses  is  reported  as  being  617.    They  vary 


174  EEPOET  OF  THE  FIFTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


in  height  from  two  stories  and  basement  to  four  stories.  Some,  but  not 
all,  have  the  "  modern  improvements,"  such  as  gas,  and  hot  and  cold 
water  through  the  house.  The  newer  class  of  tenant-houses  are  generally 
five  or  six  stories  in  height,  and  are  made  to  occupy  as  much  ground  as 
greedy  landlords  can  manage  to  cover  with  their  brick  and  mortar. 

Tenant-Houses. — The  total  number  of  tenant-houses  in  this  district 
is  2,152.  About  one-tenth  of  them  are  of  wood,  the  remainder  of  brick. 
Nearly  one-fifth  of  the  total  number  are  rear  houses.  Their  age  is  from 
those  built  within  a  few  months  to  the  dilapidated  old  barracks  which  the 
late  Dr.  James  Stewart  aptly  denominated  "  Dens  of  death."  The  cus- 
tom prevails  here  of  sub-letting  a  part  of  a  room  to  "  boarders,"  which 
increases  the  ordinary  crowding.  A  few  of  the  more  modern  tenant- 
houses  in  this  district  are  of  a  commendable  pattern.  As  an  illustration 
we  give  those  built  by  John  "Wendell  in  Fifth  Street  between  Avenues  B 
and  C.  They  are  the  best  arranged  domiciles  in  respect  to  ventilation, 
lighting,  and  cleanliness,  to  be  seen  in  the  Eleventh  Ward. 

This  district  probably  has  a  greater  number  of  artisans,*  workers  in 
wood  and  metals,  than  any  other  district  in  the  city,  and  nearly  the  whole 
water-front  as  well  as  several  entire  blocks  are  occupied  by  the  extensive 
manufactories  in  which  they  are  employed. 

The  shipyards,  iron,  lead,  and  copper  works  here,  also  give  employ- 
ment to  many  thousand  hands  to  whom  a  residence  near  is  a  great  neces- 
sity.   Hence  the  excessive  crowding  in  this  locality. 

How  great  a  benefit  would  the  construction  of  model  tenant-houses  in 
this  vicinity  confer  upon  its  population  !  The  abodes  where  moral  vile- 
ness,  squalor,  filth,  disease,  and  death  now  hold  the  sway,  would  be  con- 
verted into  pleasant  rooms,  giving  health  and  happiness  to  thousands.  If 
some  of  our  capitalists  would  take  the  subject  in  hand,  and  cause  the  erec- 
tion of  model  tenant-houses  in  this  locality,  such  structures  would  stand 
as  a  monument  to  their  names  and  an  honor  to  our  city.  If  our  Central 
Park,  which  has  cost  millions  without  any  direct  pecuniary  returns,  finds 
so  much  favor  with  a  generous  public,  the  construction  of  model  tenant- 
houses,  which  would  confer  such  benefits  upon  the  poor,  should  also  ex- 
cite a  deep  interest. 

That  such  dwellings  would  be  a  paying  investment,  may  be  inferred  from 
the  fact  that  the  present  crowded  habitations  of  a  tenant-neighborhood 
afford  an  interest  of  more  than  fifteen  per  cent. 

Stables. — Though  we  are  not  prepared  to  show  what  particular  dis- 
eases or  what  mortality  is  to  be  directly  traced  to  the  neglected  and  mis- 
placed stables  in  this  district,  the  following  facts  respecting  them,  contained 
in  the  records  of  our  inspection,  will  illustrate  tho  importance  of  bringing 
them  under  some  kind  of  sanitary  regulation. 


PESTILENTIAL  QUARTERS. 


175 


At  No.  —  Attorney  Street  is  a  rear  tenant-house,  the  first  floor  of 
which  is  occupied  as  a  stable  for  seven  or  eight  horses,  while  several  fam- 
ilies occupy  the  floors  above.  Again  at  No.  —  Avenue  B,  a  horse- 
stable  occupies  the  rear  area  of  the  lot,  and  the  entrance  to  the  stables  is 
made  only  through  the  door  and  hall  of  the  tenant-house.  I  found  two  of 
the  scrofulous  children  in  that  house  on  crutches.  The  grave  has  a  strong 
claim  upon  others.  The  relative  localities  which  the  stables  in  this  dis- 
trict occupy  with  reference  to  the  tenant-population,  the  accumulation 
of  filth  and  manure  about  them,  and  the  general  neglect  of  adequate  local 
drainage  and  means  of  cleansing  such  premises,  demand  that  some  prac- 
ticable and  acceptable  plans  for  the  improvement  of  stables  should  be  pre- 
sented, as  well  for  the  benefit  of  the  hard-working  owners  of  horses  as  for 
the  general  welfare  of  the  community.  The  prevalence  and  fatality  of 
pulmonary  diseases  among  horses  in  overcrowded  and  neglected  stables  is 
only  equalled  by  the  fatality  of  like  maladies  in  the  women  and  children 
of  tenant-houses. 

Slaughter-Pens. — We  found  19  slaughter-houses  in  the  Fifteenth 
District.  In  most  instances  the  condition  of  these  places  is  excessively 
filthy,  and  utterly  reckless  of  any  regard  to  sanitary  regulations  or  the 
laws  of  decency.  The  worst  class  of  these  slaughter-pens  is  found  in 
rear  buildings  amidst  the  most  densely-packed  tenant-houses.  As  a  writ- 
ten description  can  convey  no  adequate  idea  of  the  shameless  and  brutal 
scenes  that  are  daily  witnessed  in  and  about  these  butcheries,  we  beg 
leave  to  refer  to  the  faithful  illustrations  of  them  which  the  artist  has 
presented  on  the  following  page.* 

Insalubrious  Quarters. — This  inspection  district  embraces  a  great 
number  of  fever-nests  and  insalubrious  quarters.  The  following  descrip- 
tion of  three  of  these  places  will  suffice  for  the  whole  series.  We  copy 
from  our  records  of  inspection  : 

1.  "  Second  Square — Stanton  to  Bivington  Street. — Ground  filled 
in,  and  so  level  as  to  render  the  natural  drainage  imperfect.  Sewers  on 
Lewis,  Stanton,  and  Rivington  Streets,  but  none  of  the  houses  are  con- 
nected with  them.  There  are  in  all  52  houses  on  the  square,  of  which 
40  are  front,  12  rear,  and  41  are  tenant-houses.  Nearly  all  of  those 
designated  tenant-houses  are  small  two  or  three  story  houses,  origi- 
nally intended  for  one,  but  now  occupied  by  from  five  to  eight  families. 
Only  six  of  them  were  originally  built  for  tenant-house.  They  are  all 
overcrowded,  in  a  bad  state  of  repair,  and  kept  in  a  most  careless  and 
filthy  condition.    Their  apartments  are  small  and  ill- ventilated,  halls  and 

*  See  one  of  the  scenes  here  referred  to  on  the  next  page. 


"  DENS  OF  DEATH." — DESCRIPTION  OF  THEM. 


177 


passages  dark  and  dirty,  yards,  cellars,  and  privies  carelessly  attended  to. 
Five  small  houses  two  and  a  half  stories  in  height  including  the  hasements, 
each  containing  apartments  for  six  families,  front  on  an  alley  called 
'  Rivington  Place,'  located  in  the  rear  of  Nos.  316  and  318  Rivington 
Street.  This  alley  is  always  in  a  filthy  condition.*  The  houses  on  it  are 
small  and  overcrowded,  and  their  occupants  are  constant  claimants  on  the 
charities  of  the  public  dispensaries  and  hospitals.  A  detailed  description 
of  the  squalor  and  uncleanness  of  this  wretched  quarter  will  hardly  be 
necessary  when  we  state  the  fact  that  the  30  families  that  reside  in  these 
five  houses  have  no  other  water  supply  than  that  which  two  hydrants  fur- 
nish in  the  exterior  courtyard ;  while  for  this  population  of  nearly  200 
persons  of  all  ages  there  are  but  two  privy  vaults,  and,  at  the  time  of  last 
inspection  of  the  quarters,  these  vaults  were  filled  nearly  to  the  surface. 
Dr.  Guernsey,  who  practises  in  this  district,  states  that  '  In  the  year  1849, 
42  individuals  died  here  in  three  weeks  of  cholera,  and  not  one  recovered 
that  was  taken  sick.  The  reasons  are  plain :  they  have  no  ventilation, 
and  the  houses  being  double,  the  exhalations  from  one  apartment  are  in- 
haled by  the  other.' 

2.  "  Twelfth  Square — Sheriff  to  Columbia  Street. —  *  *  *  * 
On  Sheriff  Street  is  a  group  of  rear  tenant-houses  adjacent  to  some  stables. 
The  northern  section  of  these  rookeries  is  popularly  known  as  the  '  Rag 
Pickers'  Row.'  This  place  and  its  inhabitants  have  been  aptly  described 
in  the  following  language  by  Dr.  Guernsey  in  a  special  report  made  to  the 
New  York  Sanitary  Association  by  that  physician  : 

*  ******** 
"  '  This  nuisance  should  be  destroyed.  It  is  situated  in  the  rear  of  Nos. 
—  and  —  Sheriff  Street.  The  houses  are  of  wood,  two  stories  with  attic 
and  basement.  The  attic  rooms  are  used  to  deposit  the  filthy  rags  and 
bones  as  they  are  taken  from  the  gutters  and  slaughter-houses.  The 
yards  are  filled  with  dirty  rags  hung  up  to  dry,  sending  forth  their  stench 
to  all  the  neighborhood,  and  is  exceedingly  nauseous,  operating  upon  me 
as  an  emetic.  The  tenants  are  all  Germans  of  the  lowest  order,  having  no 
national  or  personal  pride ;  they  are  exceedingly  filthy  in  person,  and 
their  bed  clothes  are  as  dirty  as  the  floors  they  walk  on  ;  their  food  is  of 
the  poorest  quality,  and  their  feet  and  heads,  and  doubtless  their  whole 
bodies,  are  anasarcous,  suffering  from  what  they  call  rheumatism,  but 
which  is  in  reality  a  prostrate  nervous  system,  the  result  of  foul  air  and 
indequate  supply  of  nutritious  food.  They  have  a  peculiar  taste  for  the 
association  of  dogs  and  cats,  there  being  about  50  of  the  former  and  30 
of  the  latter.    The  whole  number  of  apartments  is  32,  occupied  by  28 

*  See  Diagram  on  page  178. 

12 


CROWD-POISONING. — TYPHUS. 


179 


families,  number  120  in  all,  60  adults  and  60  children.  The  yards  are 
all  small,  and  the  sinks  running  over  with  filth.    The  owner  of  one-half 

of  this  row  is  ,  and  of  the  other  .    The  latter  gentleman  is 

a  wealthy  man  and  lives  with  his  tenants  in  the  rear,  although  he  owns 
the  front  house  ;  he  prefers  the  filth  because  he  thus  saves  some  money. 
He  buys  and  sells  rags,  a  perfect  chiffonnier.  Not  one  decent  sleeping 
apartment  can  be  found  on  the  entire  premises,  and  not  one  stove  properly 
arranged.  The  carbonic  acid  gas,  in  conjunction  with  the  other  emana- 
tion from  bones,  rags,  and  human  filth,  defies  description.  The  rooms 
are  6  X  10  feet,  bedrooms  5x6  feet.  The  inhabitants  lead  a  miserable 
existence,  and  their  children  wilt  and  die  in  their  infancy.' 

3.  "  Fourteenth  Square — Stanton  to  Houston  Streets. — '  Cat  Alley  ' 
is  the  local  designation  of  a  group  of  dilapidated  tenant-houses  in  an  alley 
on  Cannon  Street.  The  alley  is  unpaved,  and  is  excessively  filthy.  The 
privy  is  a  small  and  broken-down  structure,  covering  only  a  part  of  the 
vault,  which  is  now  full  almost  to  overflowing.  The  inhabitants  are 
degraded,  both  physically  and  socially.  In  several  of  the  domiciles,  at 
the  time  of  our  last  inspection,  there  was  neither  bedstead  nor  table. 
Twelve  of  these  families  were  found  in  a  wretched  condition,  and  all  the 
children  we  saw  were  covered  with  dirt,  and  presented  the  intensest 
aspects  of  scrofulous  disease ;  their  sore  eyes,  encrusted  heads,  and 
dehumanized  appearance,  told  the  story  of  want  and  neglect,  and  of 
greater  evils  to  come." 

Prevailing  Diseases. — Typhus  and  typhoid  fevers  have  been  found 
prevailing  in  all  sections  of  this  district.  Small-pox,  scarlatina,  measles, 
and  pulmonary  diseases  are  met  with  in  almost  every  street.  Typhus  is 
the  most  typical  of  the  preventable  diseases  that  abound  in  the  Eleventh 
Ward.  The  very  large  number  of  typhus  patients  that  has  been  sent  to 
the  fever  hospital  from  the  tenant-houses  of  this  district,  constitutes  but  a 
small  percentage  of  the  total  number  of  cases  of  that  fearful  disease. 
Small-pox,  also,  was  found  by  the  Sanitary  Inspector  to  be  prevailing 
very  extensively.  Cholera  infantum  and  obstinate  diarrhceal  maladies 
were  prevalent  in  the  rear  tenements,  and  throughout  the  lowest  streets 
during  the  summer  and  autumn. 

Increasing  Causes  of  Insalubrity. — In  this  district  we  find  a 
population  of  more  than  60,000  persons  dwelling  upon  an  area  of  less 
than  3,000  ordinary  house-lots  of  25x50  feet,  which  gives  an  average 
of  more  than  twenty  persons  to  each  such  lot.  Although  this  rate  of 
population  extending  over  an  entire  ward  is  worthy  of  remark,  it  would 
not  be  a  cause  of  special  insalubrity  if  good  hygienic  regulations  pre- 
vailed.   But  in  the  entire  absence  of  such  regulations,  and  especially  in 


180  KEPOKT  OF  THE  FIFTEENTH  SAJOTAET  DISTRICT. 

the  close  packing  of  particular  sections  of  the  district,  we  find  reason  to 
watch  against  the  sources,  as  well  as  for  the  constant  diffusion  of  pesti- 
lential diseases.  The  fact  is  undeniable  that  typhus  has  become  localized 
in  several  of  the  crowded  blocks  of  tenant-houses.  The  exanthematous 
diseases  of  childhood  are  persistently  prevalent,  and  the  virus  of  small- 
pox is  continually  being  spread  abroad  from  this  ward.  Yet  the  great 
mass  of  the  adult  population,  by  excellent  habits  of  industry,  and  by  vir- 
tue of  the  good  constitutional  health  they  fortunately  possessed  before 
becoming  residents  in  the  city — for  the  majority  of  adults  in  this  district 
are  immigrant  artisans  and  laborers — is  reputed  in  good  health.  The 
infants  and  children  die  in  fearful  ratios,  and  too  many  mothers  find  an 
early  grave. 

The  particular  causes  of  insalubrity  in  this  ward  do  not  require 
special  explanation  beyond  that  we  have  given  ;  but  in  order  to  present  a 
concise  grouping  of  the  material  causes  of  faulty  hygienic  conditions  in 
the  crowded  squares  occupied  by  this  population,  we  will  here  introduce 
an  abstract  of  the  records  of  the  Sanitary  survey  of  a  single  square,  as 
entered  in  our  Record-Book  of  Inspections  : 

"  Avenue  B  to  C.    Thirteenth  Square — Twelfth  to  Thirteenth  Streets. 

"  Ground  a  marsh,  reclaimed  by  imperfect  filling  in,  and  now  im- 
perfectly drained. 

"  Buildings  and  Population. — Front  houses,  59. 

Rear  houses,  23. 

Total,        .  .  82. 


There  are  12  alleys  and  3  courts. 

Total  number  of  tenant-houses,  ...  70 

Total  population,  nearly,      .          .          .  3,000 

Number  of  stables,       .          .          .          .  11 

"     slaughter-pens,  1 

"     junk  shops,  ....  2 

"     stores,   .          .          .          .  .26 

"     dram-shops  and  lager,  .       .          .  16 

"     groceries,  with  bar,       .          .  .7 

"     distillery,  1 


u  The  domiciles  are  crowded,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  filthy.  The 
bedrooms  are  generally  unvcntilatcd  and  dark.  Typhus  fever,  measles, 
and  small-pox  were  found  prevailing  at  the  time  of  first  inspection.  Nino 
patients  with  typhus  had,  within  a  short  period,  been  sent  to  the  fever 


THE  REMEDY, — BETTER  HOUSES,  CLEANLINESS. 


181 


hospital  from  the  row  of  tenant-houses  on  Thirteenth  Street.  The  sani- 
tary care  of  the  privies  has  obviously  been  neglected,  and  like  the  stables 
and  slaughter-pen  within  the  square,  they  are  altogether  offensive  to  the 
senses,  and  perilous  to  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  locality." 

The  chief  causes  of  increasing  insalubrity  in  the  district  are  comprised 
in  the  brief  abstract  here  given  of  a  single  block.  They  consist  in  the  bad 
drainage,  filth,  overcrowding  and  incongruous  packing  of  populous  ten- 
ant-houses, and  the  grossest  nuisances  in  compact  contiguity.  Through- 
out the  ward  there  is  a  manifest  want  of  intelligent  and  faithful  sanitary 
supervision. 

Remedial  Measures. — The  first  and  most  indispensable  means  for 
improving  the  hygienic  condition  of  this  district,  would  appear  to  be  a 
careful  sanitary  survey  of  every  street  and  square.  The  evils  that  exist 
and  are  increasing  in  particular  sections  of  the  ward  must  be  clearly 
ascertained  by  competent  sanitary  observers,  aided  by  expert  engineer- 
ing talent.  Not  only  should  suitable  means  be  used  to  procure  improved 
ventilation  and  sunlighting  in  the  tenant-houses,  but  several  of  the 
squares  must  be  cleared  of  their  nuisances — their  slaughter-pens,  faulty 
privies,  etc.,  and,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  general  and  local  drainage 
should  be  radically  reformed. 

The  increasing  business  of  all  the  great  mechanical  establishments 
along  the  eastern  margin  of  this  district,  employing  many  thousand 
mechanics  and  laborers  who  seek  homes  within  the  Eleventh  Ward,  the 
industrious  and  worthy  character  of  the  nearly  twenty  thousand  families 
that  reside  there,  and  the  social  and  economical  considerations  that  bear 
upon  the  whole  subject  of  sanitary  improvement  of  tenant-houses  and 
tenant-house  population  of  this  important  section  of  the  city,  demand  that 
the  work  of  such  improvement  should  not  be  delayed. 


REP  O  KT 

OF  THE 

SIXTEENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


WILLIAM  C.   HUNTER,   M.  D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — On  the  north  by  Twentieth  Street,  on  the  east  by  the 
Sixth  Avenue,  on  the  west  by  the  Hudson  River,  and  on  the  south  by  Four- 
teenth Street. 

Topography. — The  original  condition  of  the  surface  as  to  elevation, 
is  shown  in  the  following  table,  which  was  obtained  from  Mr.  James  E. 
Serrell,  City  Surveyor,  and  is  entirely  reliable.  It  shows  the  elevation  in 
feet  and  inches  of  each  avenue  and  street  corner  above  high-water  mark : 


STREETS. 

Tenth  Av. 

Ninth  At. 

Eighth  At. 

SeTenth  At. 

Sixth  At. 

w 

13.6" 

19.6*" 

26.  6f" 

si.r 

1.6 

18.3 

19.0* 

24.10* 

30.8 

7.6 

13.3 

19.0| 

24. 10* 

30.8 

7.6 

13.3 

19.0* 

24.10* 

30.8 

7.6 

18.6 

19.6 

26.  6 

29.0* 

7.6 

13.6 

19.6 

25.  6 

27.5 

1.6 

18.6 

19.6 

25.  6 

23.7* 

The  soil  is  almost  entirely  a  gravelly  loam.  This  part  of  the  city 
was  in  its  earlier  history  considered  the  best  agricultural  district  on  the 
island,  and  was  used  for  such  purposes.  On  referring  to  the  most  au- 
thentic maps  no  water-course  can  be  discovered  entering  the  district. 
Natural  drainage,  as  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  table  of  elevation, 
is  good ;  there  is  a  gradual  slope  from  Sixtli  Avenue  to  the  river.  No 
facts  have  been  ascertained  going  to  show  that  the  topographical  condi- 
tions of  the  district  arc  otherwise  than  healthful. 


INSALUBRIOUS  STREETS. — CAUSES. 


183 


Streets. — The  direction  of  the  streets  is  easterly  and  westerly,  and 
of  the  avenues  northerly  and  southerly.  The  former  are,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Fourteenth  Street,  sixty  feet  in  width  between  the  buildings. 
Fourteenth  Street  and  the  avenues  are  of  similar  width,  being  one  hun- 
dred feet  between  the  buildings.  The  streets  are  all,  with  the  exception 
of  Fourteenth  Street,  paved  with  cobble  stones.  The  same  pavement  is 
found  in  all  the  avenues  except  the  Sixth,  which,  together  with  Fourteenth 
Street  between  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Avenues,  have  the  Belgian  or 
block  pavement.  As  an  example  of  the  neglected  state  of  some  of  the 
street-pavements,  I  would  refer  to  "West  Nineteenth  Street  between  the 
Sixth  and  Seventh  Avenues.  The  pavement  here  is  usually  out  of  repair, 
perhaps  on  account  of  the  wretched  sanitary  condition  of  the  gutters  and 
surface  of  the  streets.  "While  the  avenues  are  tolerably  clean,  some  of 
the  streets  are  extremely  filthy.  The  most  marked  examples  are  West 
Sixteenth  Street  from  the  Seventh  to  the  Tenth  Avenue,  and  Seventeenth 
Street  from  Eighth  to  the  Tenth  Avenue.  In  these  two  streets  there  was 
observed  a  greater  amount  of  preventable  sickness  than  in  other  streets 
having  as  large  a  population.  Cholera  infantum,  dysentery,  and  diarrhoea, 
were  particularly  noticed  in  Sixteenth  Street  between  the  Eighth  and 
Tenth  Avenues,  where  have  occurred  in  five  houses  since  May  last  four 
cases  of  purulent  ophthalmia,  four  of  scarlet  fever  and  diphtheria,  and  five 
of  cholera  infantum.  The  latter  was  found  between  the  Ninth  and  Tenth 
Avenues,  where  the  street  at  every  visit  was  found  in  an  indescribably 
filthy  state  in  consequence  of  deposits  of  gai'bage  and  slops.  This  was 
particularly  noticed  in  front  of  the  premises  where  cholera  infantum  had 
occurred.  As  another  similar  example  of  the  influence  of  uncleanly 
streets  on  the  health  of  their  vicinity,  I  refer  to  West  Nineteenth  Street 
from  No.  304  to  335.  This  street  for  about  two  hundred  feet  to  the  east, 
and  the  same  distance  to  the  west  of  Tenth  Avenue,  presents  a  marked 
contrast  to  the  streets  in  the  vicinity.  Here  are  found  some  ten  or  twelve 
four  and  five-story  brick  tenant-houses.  The  street  in  front  of  these 
houses  is  such  as  may  account  for  the  excessive  amount  of  sickness  and 
mortality  observed  here. 

Sewerage. — The  sewers  of  the  district  are  constructed  of  brick. 

Their  outlets  should  be  six  in  number,  while  but  five  are  found ;  the 
absent  one  being  at  the  foot  of  Fifteenth  Street.  Each  outlet  opens  at 
about  four  feet  below  high-water  mark.  Two  are  from  three  to  four 
feet  in  diameter,  the  rest  much  smaller.  On  reference  to  the  map  it 
will  be  seen  that  a  private  sewer  commences  in  the  centre  of  the  square 
inclosed  by  Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  Streets,  and  Ninth  and  Tenth  Ave- 
nues.   Tliis  is  owned  by  the  proprietors  of  a  large  sugar-refining  estab- 


184 


KEPOKT  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


lishment,  who  also  own  a  large  number  of  dwelling-houses  on  Sixteenth 
Street  west  of  Ninth  Avenue,  and  also  on  Tenth  Avenue  south  of  Six- 
teenth Street.  Local  drainage  from  the  houses  connects  with  this  sewer. 
It  passes  through  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  centre  of  two  squares,  and 
reaches  the  river,  it  is  believed,  at  Eleventh  Avenue  and  Fifteenth  Street, 
where  it  emptied  at  one  time,  it  is  said,  into  the  river ;  but  about  three 
years  ago,  for  certain  reasons,  the  pier  or  dock  was  raised.  The  effect 
was  to  prevent  the  contents  of  the  sewer  being  received  into  the  river, 
and  the  result  is  that  Fifteenth  Street  for  one  hundred  feet  or  more  east 
of  the  Eleventh  Avenue  is,  and  has  been,  constantly  covered  with  this  ob- 
structed sewage  for  the  last  three  years.  It  has  really  rendered  Eleventh 
Avenue  at  the  corner  of  Fifteenth  Street  impassable  for  loaded  vehicles, 
and  a  private  individual  has  been  compelled  to  construct  a  bridge  across 
this  slough,  that  his  teams  may  pass  in  safety.  The  effect  of  this  on  health 
cannot  be  definitely  ascertained,  as  there  arc  no  dwellings  in  the  immedi- 
ate neighborhood.  One  of  the  chief  reasons  of  the  greater  amount  of 
sickness  and  mortality  observed  on  the  squares  near  the  river,  over  those 
more  remote,  is  attributable  to  either  the  faulty  construction  of  the  sewers 
or  their  outlets. 

Squares. — 30  squares  are  included  in  this  district.  They  are  all  of 
regular  shape.  The  sanitary  condition  of  4  is  good,  in  3  it  is  bad,  and  in 
23  it  is  of  a  mixed  character. 

The  causes  of  insalubrity  are  various.  1st  in  importance  is  the  large 
number  of  buildings  used  for  dwellings,  stables,  factories,  or  other  purposes, 
on  a  single  square.  2d.  Special  nuisances.  3d.  Absence  of,  or  imperfect 
local  drainage  and  sewerage.  4th.  Non-removal  of  garbage  and  street 
filth.  5th.  Badly-constructed  and  neglected  privies.  6th.  Uncleanly  and 
intemperate  habits  of  the  residents  of  the  squares. 

1st.  Number  of  buildings  on  insufficient  space. — The  first  point  of  san- 
itary observation  is,  that  too  many  dwellings  are  crowded  upon  an  insuffi- 
cient amount  of  ground.  In  very  many  instances  do  we  find  on  a  lot  of 
25  X 100  feet,  two  dwellings  of  from  three  to  four  stories  in  height,  tho 
space  between  which  being  in  some  cases  not  greater  than  10  or  15  feet, 
while  upon  both  sides  of  these  houses  rise,  either  two  high  fences  or  two 
adjoining  buildings.  This  is  the  only  yard  of  these  houses,  and  ordinarily 
contains  the  privy  and  Croton-watcr.  The  former,  through  entire  ab- 
sence of  circulating  air,  diffuses  its  effluvium  through  the  eating  and  sleep- 
ing rooms  on  the  lower  floors  of  both  houses,  especially  the  rear,  and  in  a 
less  degree  the  upper  stories.  The  latter  insures  a  constantly  wet  pavement 
and  humid  air.  Tho  square  between  Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  Streets  and 
Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues,  presents  numerous  instances  of  this  condition. 


GARBAGE  AND  NEGLIGENCE. 


185 


Examples  are  met  with  at  Nos.  240  to  260  "West  Fifteenth  Street,  and 
in  at  least  four  instances  between  the  Ninth  and  Tenth  Avenues  on  this 
street. 

2d.  Special  Nuisances. — Of  these  the  prominent  are  soap-fat  fac- 
tories and  slaughter-houses.  Of  the  former  there  are  6,  of  the  latter  5. 
These  will  receive  attention  in  another  portion  of  this  report. 

3d.  Absence  of,  or  imperfect  local  drainage. — In  the  twelve  squares  east 
of  the  Eighth  Avenue,  the  majority  of  the  houses  have  under-ground 
drains,  though  some  have  surface  local  drainage.  West  of  Eighth  Avenue 
to  the  river  but  3  of  the  squares  have  good  local  drainage,  while  in  12 
it  is  surface.  These  12  are  embraced  in  the  boundaries  Eighteenth  to 
Fifteenth  Streets,  both  inclusive.  It  will  be  shown  that  within  this  terri- 
tory there  was  found  a  larger  proportionate  amount  of  sickness  and  mor- 
tality than  in  other  parts  of  the  district.  The  cause  of  this  lack  of  drain- 
age is  very  plainly  owing  to  either  the  poor  character  of  the  buildings, 
and  consequent  low  rents,  or  illiberality  of  the  landlords,  but  not  to  the 
want  of  sewers.  This  is  particularly  the  case  in  Sixteenth,  Seventeenth, 
and  Eighteenth  Streets,  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues,  which  streets 
between  these  avenues  have  each  a  sewer,  but  few  local  drains  are  connected 
with  it. 

4th.  Non-removal  of  garbage  and  street  dirt. — On  those  squares  where 
tenant-houses  are  most  abundant,  garbage-boxes  are  sources  of  great  in- 
salubrity. Being  made  of  wood,  they  are  soon  destroyed  under  the  com- 
bined influences  of  bad  usage,  rains,  and  slops,  and  long  before  they  cease 
to  be  used  are  really  worthless,  as  they  allow  the  liquid  portion  of  the 
garbage  to  leak  out  and  flow  into  the  gutters.  Again,  the  great  size  of 
these  boxes  prevents  in  certain  localities  the  removal  of  the  entire  contents 
at  the  daily  visit.  A  part  only  is  taken,  the  rest  left  to  decompose  and  be 
covered  with  fresh  accumulations,  until  the  condition  of  the  box  can  be 
better  imagined  than  described.  As  the  boxes  become  damaged  they  be- 
gin to  disappear  piecemeal  (it  is  suspected  for  fire-wood),  and  a  small 
mound  of  garbage  being  left,  it  is  rapidly  increased  in  size  by  the  previous 
habits  of  the  occupants  of  depositing  such  material  in  that  particular 
place,  until  it  becomes  a  large  heap  of  putrefying  animal  and  vegetable 
matter,  disgusting  to  sight  and  smell,  and  detrimental  to  the  health  of  the 
square  on  which  it  is  found.  A  forcible  example  may  be  seen  at  this 
time  in  Nineteenth  Street,  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  Avenues.  That 
street  filth  is  left  unrcmoved  for  too  long  a  time,  is  a  fact  with  which  we 
are  all  acquainted  ;  but  in  the  poorest  portions  of  this  district,  where  the 
need  of  prompt  and  frequent  removal  is  greatest,  the  neglect  seems  most 
apparent.    Examples  are  met  with  in  Eighteenth  Street  between  Seventh 


186 


KEPOKT  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  SANITAET  DISTRICT. 


and  Eighth  Avenues,  Nineteenth  Street  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  Ave- 
nues, and  elsewhere. 

5th.  Improper  construction  and  neglect  of  privies. — These  as  a  source 
of  insalubrity  to  squares  are  in  proportion  to  the  population  of  the  square. 
With  very  few  exceptions,  the  privies  visited  were  entirely  without  ven- 
tilation or  seat-covers.  In  many,  the  contents  were  much  above  the  mark 
prescribed  by  law.  About  seven  complaints  have  been  entered  in  regard 
to  this  neglect. 

6th.  Uncleanly  and  intemperate  habits  of  the  residents  of  the  squares. — 
Two  squares  in  this  district,  namely,  Eighteenth  to  Nineteenth  Street  and 
Sixth  to  Seventh  Avenue,  and  Sixteenth  to  Seventeenth  Street  and  Ninth  to 
Tenth  Avenue,  show  a  correspondence  in  uncleanly  habits  of  the  people, 
number  of  low  drinking  shops,  and  amount  of  disease.  On  the  first  square 
mentioned  there  are  9  dram-shops  of  the  lowest  class,  the  domiciliary 
habits  of  the  people  are  of  the  worst  character,  and  measles,  diphtheria, 
and  pulmonary  consumption  had  prevailed  to  an  undue  extent,  Nearly 
the  same  remarks  apply  to  the  remaining  square.  Here,  however,  are 
18  liquor,  or  liquor  grocery  stores  ;  22  cases  of  typhoid  fever,  4  of  cholera 
infantum,  4  of  purulent  ophthalmia,  and  4  of  diphtheria,  have  occurred 
during  a  part  of  the  past  year  on  this  square,  and  the  opposite  side  of 
Sixteenth  Street. 

The  Inhabitants. — It  is  almost  impossible  to  state  correctly  the  pre- 
vailing character  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Sixteenth  District,  so  thoroughly 
intermingled  is  the  population.  Probably  one-half  belong  to  the  laboring 
class.  United  States  and  Ireland  are  the  nationalities  to  a  very  large  extent ; 
the  latter  bearing  a  proportion  to  the  former  of  about  five  to  three.  Com- 
paratively few  Germans  are  to  be  found  in  this  district.  The  Manhattan 
Gas  Company,  Eighteenth  Street  and  Tenth  Avenue,  employ  in  their  es- 
tablishment a  large  number  of  men,  who  live  in  the  vicinity.  The  occu- 
pation of  others  has  not  been  ascertained.  The  majority  of  the  residents 
of  this  district  arc  dependent  on  their  daily  labor  for  support.  In  many 
parts  of  the  district  the  people  arc  very  poor,  yet  respectable,  hard-work- 
ing persons. 

Buildings. — The  whole  number  of  buildings  of  every  kind  in  this 
district,  as  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  is  1,644.  They  are  classed  as 
follows : 

Private  residences,  .....  340 
Rear  buildings  (dwellings),  .  .  .  192 

Tenant-houses,  .....  422 

Stores,      ......  393 


TENANT-HOUSES. — STATISTICS. 


187 


Drinking  places,  billiard  saloons,  policy  shops,            .  126 

Factories  (5  of  which  are  soap),    •  23 

Schools,         ......  5 

Slaughter-houses,  .....  6 

Stables,  129 

Churches,  ......  8 

Not  far  from  one-quarter  of  the  buildings  contain  less  than  three  fami- 
lies. These,  however,  must  not  be  regarded  as  in  necessarily  good  sanitary 
condition,  as  there  are  many  small  buildings  of  such  size  as  to  accommo- 
date but  two  families.  Fifty  or  thereabouts  of  the  private  residences  are 
of  brown  stone,  four  stories  in  height,  and  of  modern  construction.  These 
are  almost  exclusively  situated  on  West  Fourteenth  Street.  About  one 
hundred  are  two  and  three-story  frame  buildings,  of  considerable  age,  but 
many  are  kept  in  good  order  and  repair.  The  remainder,  of  brick,  aver- 
age three  stories  in  height,  and  are  not  generally  of  recent  construction. 
They  are  in  width  from  19  to  25  feet.  Drainage,  so  far  as  observed,  is 
usually  good.  Water  is  distributed  to  the  different  rooms  or  halls  through- 
out the  dwellings.  Water-closet  and  bath-room  are  usually  combined  in 
some  of  the  houses,  in  others  the  privies  are  kept  in  good  order. 

Tenant-Houses. — Of  these  there  are  422.  They  are  chiefly  located 
on  the  streets,  rather  than  the  avenues  of  the  district.  Not  more  than  40 
are  found  on  the  avenues,  and  these,  with  the  exception  of  5  or  6,  are  of 
four  stories  in  height.  The  age  of  these  houses  is  very  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain, as  the  external  or  internal  appearance  of  the  buildings  is  not  a  safe 
guide.  Tenant-houses,  of  recent  construction,  in  consequence  of  ill-usage 
and  neglect,  soon  come  to  present  an  appearance  of  age  they  do  not  pos- 
sess. With  few  exceptions  the  large  tenant-houses  in  the  district  are 
judged  to  be  of  recent  erection.  They  are  from  3  to  5  stories  in  height, 
and  from  15  to  30  feet  in  width.  They  are  chiefly  of  brick  material. 
Very  few  front  frame  tenements  are  to  be  found  in  the  district.  But  one 
entire  block  of  uniform  sized  tenements  is  to  be  found  in  the  district.  On 
this  square  133  houses  are  located,  in  which  are  424  families.  The  block 
referred  to  contains  a  row  of  47  tenant-houses  of  uniform  size  and  arrange- 
ment. These  houses  are  5  stories  in  height,  15  feet  in  width,  and  48  feet 
in  depth.  These  houses  represent  the  minimum  width,  and  30  feet  the 
maximum  width  of  the  tenant-houses  in  the  district. 

Drainage. — In  the  majority  of  the  large  tenant-houses  where  the 
street  is  sewered,  there  is  a  connection  with  it  by  local  drains  ;  but  as  these 
frequently  have  but  one  point  of  commencement,  and  that  in  the  rear- 
yard,  where  the  hydrant  is  located,  it  does  not  afford  sufficient  drainage. 


188 


EEPOET  OF  TIIE  SIXTEENTH  SAIOTAEY  DISTRICT. 


Refuse  water,  etc.,  is  without  doubt  allowed  to  accumulate,  especially  in 
the  upper  floors,  to  the  injury  of  the  health  of  the  occupants.  Another 
insalubrious  feature  in  this  mode  of  drainage  is,  that  to  some  of  the  ten- 
ants it  is  more  convenient  to  empty  slops  into  the  street  than  to  deposit 
the  same  in  the  cesspool.  In  other  localities  the  drains  are  of  such 
faulty  construction  as  to  be  positively  hurtful  to  the  occupants  of  the  house. 
One  such  instance  was  observed  in  a  house  of  respectable  appearance, 
occupied  by  two  families,  in  Seventeenth  Street,  where  the  drain  was 
merely  an  open  trough  attached  to  the  west  wall  of  the  house,  and  was  in- 
tended to  convey  the  waste  water  from  the  upper  part  of  the  house,  water 
from  the  roof,  and,  it  is  said,  the  contents  of  the  privy  in  the  yard.  The 
drain  had  become  obstructed  and  overflowed  its  contents  upon  the  cellar 
floor  for  20  feet  or  more.  This  condition  of  the  cellar  occurred  in  May, 
and  the  inspection  was  made  in  July.  One  person  had  sickened,  it  was 
believed,  from  the  cause  mentioned.  Nearly  a  similar  state  of  defective 
drainage  was  found  at  No.  66  West  Eighteenth  Street,  where  a  common 
board  drain  was  used  to  convey  the  drainage  from  the  rear-yard ;  it  be- 
came defective,  and  the  cellar  received  the  drainage  where  the  putrefying 
fluid  remained,  notwithstanding  remonstrances  of  the  neighbors,  until  by 
a  complaint  entered  at  the  Bureau  of  Hygiene  and  Public  Health  it  was 
remedied  by  the  Metropolitan  Police. 

Surface  local  drains  in  other  locabties  are  plainly  sources  of  insalu- 
brity to  the  buildings  with  which  they  are  connected.  They  become  ob- 
structed, and  waste  water,  slops,  etc.,  being  prevented  from  finding  its 
way  through  the  alley  into  the  gutter,  flow  back  into  the  yard  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent.  Examples  of  this  may  be  seen  in  Sixteenth  and  Seven- 
teenth Streets,  west  of  Ninth  Avenue.  In  both  of  these  streets  the  drain- 
age is  entirely  of  this  character.  The  hydrant  is  placed  just  at  the  rear 
end  of  a  narrow  alley,  not  more  than  four  feet  in  width,  and  running 
through  the  centre  of  it  is  a  stream  of  filth.  This  is  the  drainage  of  these 
houses. 

"Water-Supply. — In  24  buildings  the  supply  of  Croton-water  was 
found  in  the  yard  only  ;  in  9  throughout  the  house  ;  in  12  not  mentioned. 
Whether  the  distributioa  of  water  throughout  an  entire  house  tends  to  a 
better  sanitary  condition  of  the  house,  depends  entirely  on  the  habits, 
whether  cleanly  or  not,  of  the  occupants.  Two  contrasting  examples  of 
this  are  afforded  in  houses  No.  —  West  Twentieth  Street  and  No.  — 
West  Nineteenth  Street.  Both  have  had  water  distributed  throughout  the 
house.  In  the  former  it  is  in  the  rooms,  in  the  latter  iu  the  halls.  The 
first  is  a  perfectly  healthy  house,  the  latter  a  very  insalubrious  one.  In 
some  of  the  houses  water  is  distributed  to  each  floor  in  the  hall ;  this  is 


WATER-SUPPLY. — DOMESTIC  WANTS. 


189 


used  by  two  or  four  families  on  the  floor,  and  as  the  care  of  the  sink  de- 
volves upon  no  one  in  particular,  it  soon  becomes  a  source  of  insalubrity  to 
the  house,  e.  g.  No.  —  West  Nineteenth  Street.  In  other  houses  the 
point  of  supply  has  been  so  placed  as  to  compel  occupants  of  one  part  of 
a  floor  to  visit  the  apartments  of  other  occupants  on  the  same  floor 
for  water.  This  is  the  case  in  too  or  more  buildings  in  Sixteenth 
near  Tenth  Avenue ;  also  in  Nineteenth  Street  near  the  same  avenue. 
Four  families  occupy  each  floor,  the  water  is  placed  in  the  two  rear  rooms 
on  the  floor ;  those  occupying  the  front  rooms  visit  their  neighbors  for 
water.  It  is  very  clear  that  with  the  tendency  to  discord  and  disagree- 
ment which  exists  to  some  extent  among  different  families  in  nearly  all 
houses,  this  arrangement  subjects  such  people  to  shameful  deprivation  of  a 
supply  of  water.  The  only  method  consistent  with  a  sanitary  condition 
of  water-supply,  is  to  distribute  it  to  the  apartments  of  each  family. 

Garbage  and  House-Slops. — In  the  poorer  and  most  densely  populated 
portions  of  the  district  only  are  these  sources  of  insalubrity,  and  this  it 
seems  may  be  avoided.  Let  garbage-boxes  be  constructed  of  such  size  as 
to  contain  the  daily  accumidation  ;  of  such  material  as  will  not  easily  be 
destroyed  (of  galvanized  iron  for  example),  and  which,  while  it  is  im- 
pervious to  fluids,  may  be  readily  and  entirely  emptied  ;  let  a  properly- 
constructed  lid  be  attached,  and  the  contents  removed  daily,  and  the  sick- 
ening stench  we  now  observe  would  then  be  avoided. 

Location  and  care  of  Privies. — These  form  one  of  the  chief  features 
of  insalubrity.  Nearly  all  of  them  are  two  small  in  size  and  too  few  in 
number,  and  without  ventilation  or  seat-covers.  About  twelve  were  found 
full  to  the  floor  timbers,  or  within  one  foot  of  them.  In  some  cases  the 
doors  were  found  locked  securely,  and  on  procuring  the  key  and  inspect- 
ing the  privy,  such  masses  of  human  excrement  were  found  on  the  seats 
and  floors  as  would  justify  the  locking  of  the  door  to  protect  unwary  per- 
sons from  injury.  Occupants  of  rear  buildings  are  the  principal  sufferers 
from  this  insalubrity.  The  proximity  of  privies  is  in  some  cases  eight  feet 
from  the  windows  of  rear  houses  ;  the  odor  in  these  is,  especially  at  night, 
intolerable.  Instances  of  the  kind  are  to  be  found  at  Nos.  82,  283,  and 
285  West  Seventeenth  Street,  and  others.  They  are  also  too  few  in  num- 
ber ;  for  example  No.  108  West  Nineteenth  Street,  where  in  the  front  and 
rear  buildings  more  than  one  hundred  persons  live,  who  have  one  com- 
mon privy,  with  a  single  partition  dividing  it,  and  but  four  seats  in  all. 
Twenty-five  persons  are  expected  to  use  one  seat-opening. 

Apartments. — The  houses  under  discussion  are  so  arranged  as  to  afford 
one  main  room  and  one  or  two  bedrooms  to  each  family.  The  main 
room  is  used  as  kitchen,  dining,  and  sitting-room.    The  bedroom  between 


190 


REPORT  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


the  front  and  rear-room  is  dark  ;  the  hall  bedroom,  when  there  is  one,  is 
lighted  and  ventilated.  It  may  also  he  said  that  in  the  recently-built 
large  tenant-houses  a  small  window  opens  from  the  dark  bedrooms  into 
,the  halls.  This,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  is  of  no  real  benefit,  as  the 
halls  are  usually  dark  and  unventilated.  The  dimensions  are  various  ;  the 
following  are  examples  of  the  usual  size : 

Main  rooms,  width  and  depth,  18  X 18  ft. ;  19  X 11 ;  16  X 17  ;  19  X  14  ; 
14x14;  14X14;  15x13. 

Dormitories,  width  and  depth,  12x10  ft.;  6x9;  10x12;  8x9; 
10X9;  11x9;  12x8;  9x9;  9x9;  14x15. 

Height  of  ceiling,  7  ft.,  8,  8,  8,  9,  8,  8,  8,  8,  8,  8,  8,  8,  8. 

Average  cubic  feet  air-space  to  each  person,  732,  864,  1,047,  671, 
548,  346,  375,  894,  627,  2,576,  921. 

Ground  area  square  feet  to  each  person,  33£,  58,  38,  113,  42,  80,  33, 
30,  56,  23,  105,  20,  185,  83,  44. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  18  X  18  feet  is  the  largest  main  room,  and  14  X 14 
feet  the  smallest.  It  is  also  seen  that  in  but  two  instances  was  there  1,000 
feet  of  air-space. 

Ventilation. — In  nearly  all  the  houses  inspected  this  was  found  de- 
ficient, both  in  the  apartments  and  in  the  halls.  As  most  of  the  tenant- 
houses  are  occupied  by  at  least  two  families  on  each  floor,  it  follows  that 
no  through  ventilation  can  be  secured.  The  main  rooms  are  ventilated 
by  two  windows  with  sliding  sash,  which  in  most  instances  the  upper  sec- 
tion cannot  be  lowered.  But  very  few,  if  any,  ventilated  by  chimney  fire- 
places were  noticed.  The  dormitories  are  without  flues,  save  in  a  very 
few  cases,  and,  with  exception  of  the  hall  bedrooms  referred  to,  without 
ventilation  and  light.  The  halls  of  the  tenant-houses  are  very  generally 
unventilated,  except  by  the  front  door.  The  scuttle,  if  one  there  be,  is 
generally  closed  and  inaccessible,  and  in  at  least  one-third  of  the  houses 
there  arc  no  means  of  exit  by  the  roof.  In  but  two  of  the  large  tene- 
ments visited  were  there  found  any  means  of  escape  in  the  event  of  fire 
other  than  by  the  front  door  and  windows.  An  occupant  remarked  they 
"  must  either  roast  or  break  their  necks." 

Cellars  and  Basements. — Tenant-houses  in  this  district  are  not,  to 
a  very  large  extent,  provided  with  basements  for  residences.  The  few 
which  were  observed  are  of  an  unhealthy  character.  Two  examples  may 
serve  to  show  this.  At  No.  206  West  Sixteenth  Street,  two  families,  in 
which  arc  thirteen  persons,  occupy  the  basement.  It  is  so  dark  that  ordinary 
type  can  be  seen  witli  difficulty.  In  the  other  case  the  people  were  healthy 
before  entering  the  basement ;  since,  however,  they  have  been  ill :  tho 
mother  has  phthisis.    Of  24  cellars,  note  of  which  has  been  made,  4  only 


DRAM-SHOPS  AjSTD  SOAP  FACTORIES. 


191 


were  in  good  sanitary  condition.  The  rest  were  more  or  less  filthy,  some 
indescribably  so.   One  contained  urine,  bones,  and  soakage  from  the  privy. 

Dram-shops,  or  places  where  liquor  is  sold  by  the  glass,  are  121  in  num- 
ber. 

Liquor  stores  (or  grocery  and  liquor),    .  .  .  119 

Billiard  saloons,  .....  2 
Policy  shops,      ......  7 

The  liquor  stores  are  nearly  all  of  the  class  known  as  low  groggeries. 
Eighteen  of  these  are  located  on  a  single  square — Sixteenth  to  Seven- 
teenth Street,  Eighth  to  Ninth  Avenue — the  population  of  which  is  the 
most  depraved  and  unhealthy  in  the  district. 

Stores. — Are  403  in  number.  119,  or  more  than  one-quarter  of  these, 
it  will  be  seen  are  drinking  shops. 

Factories. — There  are  27  of  these,  as  follows : 


Soap  factories,        .          .          .          .          .  .6 

Bleaching  and  dyeing,   .....  3 

Pickle,       .          .          .          .          .          .  .3 

Breweries,         ....  .4 

Mineral  water,       .          .          .          .          .  .1 

Rope,    .......  1 

Pottery,      .           .          .          .          .          .  .  1 

Sugar,  .......  1 

Miscellaneous,        .          .          .          .          .  .7 


There  is  proof  that  soap  factories  exert  an  unhealthful  influence  on 
the  inhabitants  of  their  vicinity.  This  was  particularly  observed  at  No.  227 
West  Seventeenth  Street,  where  an  establishment  of  the  kind  is  located. 
Independent  of  illness  at  225,  which  has  been  considerable,  and  which  can- 
not undeniably  be  attributed  to  other  causes  than  the  factory,  I  am  told 
that  when  the  process  of  boiling  is  in  operation,  some  of  the  occupants  of 
225  are  obliged  to  go  into  the  street  to  escape  the  terrible  odor.  A  some- 
what similar  report  was  obtained  from  occupants  on  the  other  side  of  the 
factory.  There  the  people  close  their  windows  without  regard  to  weather 
to  escape  its  disgusting  smell. 

Slaughter-Houses. — They  are  6  in  number : 


Fronting  on  street,  .          .          .          .          .  .3 

Rear,    ....                     .          .  3 

In  good  condition,  .          .          .          .          .  .2 

Insalubrious,     ......  4 


One  of  the  latter,  located  in  Seventeenth  Street  near  the  Tenth  Ave- 


192 


REPORT  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


nue,  is  very  foul.    Blood  and  filth  are  allowed  to  flow  across  the  sidewalk 
into  the  gutter,  making  this  portion  of  the  square  unhealthy.  Diphtheria, 
purulent  ophthalmia,  and  typhus,  were  observed  in  the  street. 

Gas-Houses. — The  Manhattan  Gas  Company  have  their  extensive  es- 
tablishment occupying  the  greater  part  of  four  squares.    There  is  an  of- 
fensive odor  constantly  emanating  from  the  manufactory,  but  the  diseases 
it  produces  must  be  ascertained.    The  operatives  are  subject  of  late  to 
an  affection  of  the  eyes,  produced  it  is  said  by  a  new  material  introduced 
into  the  manufacture  of  gas. 

Stables. — 129  are  located  in  this  district,  and  are  principally  private 
stables  owned  by  cartmen  and  grocers  :  the  rest  private  stables  for  pleas- 
ure horses.    The  principal  insalubrious  feature  of  these  stables  is  their 
effect  on  rear  buildings.    This  happens  where  a  stable  in  the  rear  joins  a 
rear  dwelling  next  door.    This  is  observed  markedly  in  the  rear  of  No.  138. 
"West  Twentieth  Street.    Again,  a  stable  is  placed  in  the  rear  on  one  street, 
and  on  the  opposite  street  is  a  rear  dwelling-house.    The  rear  walls  of 
the  two  buildings  are  within  two  to  four  feet  of  each  other  (this  interven- 
ing space  being  an  unwholesome  "  cloaque"),  with  a  small  rear  bedroom 
window  of  the  dwelling,  and  a  breathing  hole  for  the  animal  in  the  sta- 
ble ;  both  window  and  opening  being  on  the  same  plane.    This  is  pre- 
cisely what  is  seen  at  No.  278  West  Seventeenth  Street,  where  the  bedroom 
window  must  be  kept  constantly  closed  to  prevent  the  unpleasant  odor 
from  the  stable  entering  the  apartment.    Three  cases  of  purulent  ophthal- 
mia have  occurred  here,  and  typhus  prevails  in  the  front  house. 

Churches,  Schools. — The  churches  are  8  in  number,  and  there  are 
4  public  schools : 

Industrial,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .1 

Ward  (colored),  .....  1 

Primary,    .  .  .  .  .  .  .1 

Grammar,  No.  11,  .  .  .  .  1 

These  all  appear  to  be  in  good  sanitary  condition. 

Vacant  Lots. — 73  in  number : 
In  lad  sanitary  condition,      ....  54 
•«  not  bad      "  .  .  .  .19 

Twenty-four  of  these,  an  area  on  Seventeenth  Street,  is  made  a  place  of 
deposit  for  ashes,  garbage,  dead  animals  and  old  boots.  Ten  arc  on  the  op- 
posite square  (Eighteenth  Street),  on  the  sites  of  dwellings  burned  two  years 
ago.  The  privies  of  these  dwellings  have  never  been  filled  in,  nor  emptied 
of  their  contents.  In  other  respects  these  lots  arc  in  a  similar  insalubrious 
condition  to  those  just  mentioned.    It  is  believed  that  these  lots  have  pro- 


FILTHY  PLACES  AND  PREVAILING-  DISEASES. 


193 


duced  illness  in  Nineteenth  Street.  The  remaining  20  in  bad  condition, 
are  found  between  Nineteenth  and  Twentieth  Streets,  and  Tenth  and 
Eleventh  Avenues.  They  are  made  a  dumping-ground  for  manure  and 
street  dirt,  and  are  highly  offensive.  Fortunately  no  dwellings  are  within 
a  few  hundred  feet  of  these  lots. 

Nuisances. — Those  of  a  public  character  have  been  noticed  in  a  pre- 
vious part  of  this  report.  The  prominent  are  slaughter-houses,  soap-fat 
establishments,  liquor  and  policy  shops.  Private  nuisances  have  been 
also  incidentally  noticed.  The  most  remarkable  are  rear  dwellings,  of 
whatever  character,  and  their  (usually)  attendant  cloaque.  This  term  has 
been  applied  by  Dr.  Harris  to  those  spaces  or  inaccessible  alleys,  from  1 
to  3  feet  in  width,  which  occur  between  two  rear  buildings  on  opposite 
streets,  or  between  two  rear  buildings  on  the  same  street.  These  are 
undoubtedly  sources  of  disease.  They  are  made  receptacles  for  all  kinds 
of  filth,  not  excepting  human  excrement ;  and  one  side  or  end  of  these 
houses  is  ventilated  with  such  an  air  as  may  be  imagined  to  be  diffused 
through  such  a  space.  In  one  rear  house  in  Sixteenth  Street,  where  this 
condition  exists,  no  less  than  9  cases  of  typhus  fever  have  occurred  in  less 
than  one  year. 

Prevailing  Diseases. — The  prevailing  diseases  the  past  year  have 
been  cholera  infantum,  dysentery,  diarrhoea,  diphtheria,  and  measles.  The 
first-named  affections  from  the  localities  in  which  they  have  been  chiefly 
observed  are  due  to  humidity,  from  imperfect  drainage,  to  absence  of  sun- 
light, and  ventilation  in  rear  buildings,  to  personal  and  domiciliary  filth 
and  filthy  streets,  together  with  a  high  external  temperatm-e.  The  latter 
two  are  mainly  owing  to  personal  and  domiciliary  uncleanliness,  with 
overcrowding.  Seven  cases  of  the  last-named  disease  occurred  in  one 
house,  in  which  were  twenty-three  children.  The  average  cubic  air-space 
for  each  person  in  this  house  was  694  feet.  3  cases  of  diphtheria  occur- 
red in  another  house,  in  which  73  persons  reside ;  the  cubic  air-space 
for  each  person  697  feet. 

Locality  of  Diseases. — In  Tenth  Avenue  near  Sixteenth  Street, 
three  or  more  cases  of  variola.  In  Nineteenth  Street,  No.  314  rear,  3 
cases  of  variola  were  found  in  one  room  of  a  tenant-house.  Between  20 
and  30  cases  of  typhus  fever  have  occurred  in  the  last  year  in  Sixteenth 
Street,  Tenth  Avenue,  and  Seventeenth  Street  west  of  Ninth  Avenue, 
cholera  infantum  in  Fifteenth  Street  near  Sixth  Avenue,  Sixteenth  Street 
near  Tenth  Avenue,  Nineteenth  Street  near  Seventh  Avenue,  Eighteenth 
Street  near  Seventh  Avenue.  Diphtheria  in  Seventeenth  Street  west  of 
Eighth  Avenue.  It  is  of  course  impossible  to  say  what  particular  cause 
13 


194 


EEPOET  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


has  produced  these  diseases,  but  the  locality  in  every  instance  mentioned 
was  insalubrious. 

Insalubrious  quarters  have  been  noticed  where  the  constant  sickness 
and  mortality  rate  is  slight.  This  is  accounted  for  in  three  ways  :  1st. 
The  people  in  such  localities  remove  often,  remaining  perhaps  not  more 
than  a  month  or  two.  2d.  They  will  deceive  if  possible  the  inquirer,  ap- 
parently from  sheer  love  of  deception.  3d.  Through  fear  of  ejectment  by 
landlord,  or  agent,  who  occupies  perhaps  a  part  of  the  house,  information 
is  withheld.  Ejectment  of  the  tenants  really  took  place  in  one  case,  in 
consequence  of  complaint  being  made  of  a  nuisance  in  the  house. 
Disease  from  immigrants  was  observed  in  two  persons  only :  this  was 
typhus. 

Remedial  Measures. — A  more  thorough  sewerage,  and  connections 
by  local  drains  in  all  cases ;  Croton-water  distributed  to  an  apartment 
of  each  family ;  the  removal  if  practicable  of  all  bad  rear  dwellings ; 
privies  to  be  connected  with  the  sewer ;  tenant-houses  to  be  erected  not 
to  exceed  three  or  at  most  four  stories  in  height,  and  so  constructed  as  to 
afford  better  through  ventilation ;  a  better  class  of  garbage-boxes ;  re- 
moval of  slaughter-houses  and  soap-fat  establishments  beyond  the  city 
limits  ;  are  some  of  the  principal  remedial  measures  which  are  suggested 
to  the  mind  of  the  inspector,  to  place  the  district  in  a  fair  sanitary  con- 
dition. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

SEVENTEENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


GUIDO  FURMAN,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries  and  Squares. — The  Seventeenth  Sanitary  Inspection  Dis- 
trict is  the  northern  half  of  the  Sixteenth  Ward,  and  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  West  Twenty-sixth  Street,  south  by  West  Twentieth  Street,  east 
by  the  Sixth  Avenue,  west  by  the  Hudson  River,  and  contains  thirty  full  and 
five  partial  squares. 

Topography  :  Altitude  of  Surface. — The  highest  point  of  ground  in 
this  district  will  be  found  in  West  Twenty-fifth  Street,  about  275  feet 
west  of  the  Seventh  Avenue,  and  is  elevated  about  41  feet  above  tide- 
water mark.  The  lowest  being  found  in  the  Eleventh  Avenue  between 
West  Twentieth  and  West  Twenty-fifth  Streets,  it  being  only  four  feet 
above. 

The  following  table,  obtained  from  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Croton- 
water  Department,  exhibits  the  present  height,  above  high-water  mark, 
of  the  several  corners  of  streets  and  avenues  : 


CORNER  OF  STREETS. 

Sixth  Av. 

Seventh  Av. 

Eighth  Av. 

Ninth  Av. 

Tenth  Av. 

EleventhAv. 

West  Twentieth,  

31.7" 

25.6" 

19.6|" 

13.6" 

7.6" 

"    Twenty- Second, .... 

33.3 

26.8 

20.4 

13.6 

7.6 

31.6J 

25.6* 

19.6* 

13.6 

7.6 

"    Twenty-Third,  , 

31.1 

25.7* 

18.3* 

13.4J 

7.6 

"  Twenty-Fourth,  

34.6J 

31.6 

18.4J 

13.3* 

7.6 

"  Twenty-Fifth, 

38 

33.8 

23.10* 

18.4 

9.9 

39.4 

30.4 

21.4 

19.2 

10.9* 

4 

Primitive  Topography. — The  primitive  condition  of  the  surface  of 
this  district  was  undulating.    Formerly  three  hills  of  considerable  size 


196  REPORT  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

were  found,  viz.,  one  between  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Avenues  and 
Twenty-fourth  and  Twenty-fifth  Streets  ;  one  between  the  Ninth  and 
Tenth  Avenues  and  Twenty-first  and  Twenty-second  Streets  ;  and  the  last 
one  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  between  the  same  avenues  and  streets. 
No  original  water-courses  of  importance  traversed  this  section  of  the 
island,  but  a  small  stream  coursed  for  a  short  distance  through  "West 
Twenty-sixth  Street,  forming  a  bend  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Eighth  Avenue 
and  Twenty-sixth  Street,  pursuing  a  northerly  and  westerly  course,  and 
finally  emptying  into  the  Hudson  River. 

Geological  Formation. — The  geological  formation  is  beds  of  loose 
sands,  consisting  of  quartz  ;  a  coarse  conglomerate,  silicious  and  micacious 
rock ;  argillaceous  matter,  divided  in  irregular  lamina? ;  limestone  and 
calcareous  sand  ;  and  finally  of  loam  and  clay. 

The  above-mentioned  classes  of  rocks  do  not  appear  in  an  isolated 
form,  but  probably  pass  into  each  other.  The  planes  of  the  various  strata 
occur  in  nearly  horizontal  layers,  with  occasional  cross  stratification  in 
the  sandy ;  the  greatest  line  of  bearing  being  from  tbe  northeast  to  the 
southwest.  In  no  part  of  the  district  can  be  found  a  wet  sub  or  retentive 
surface  soil,  the  reclaimed  ground  (which  will  be  mentioned  next)  ex- 
cepted, which  is  and  always  will  be  saturated  with  water  and  organic 
matter,  both  animal  and  vegetable. 

Reclamed  Ground. — A  little  more  than  one-fifth  of  this  district  is 
reclaimed  ground  from  the  Hudson  River ;  the  materials  used  for  tliis 
purpose  being  bricks,  mortar,  slate,  gravel,  ashes,  coal-dust,  street-sweep- 
ings, oyster,  clam,  lobster,  and  egg  shells,  pig's  hair,  shavings,  straw, 
glass,  carpets,  brooms,  refuse  materials  from  tanneries,  crockery,  bones, 
dead  animals — as  cats,  rats,  and  dogs ;  shoes,  boots,  feathers,  oyster 
cans,  old  tin  roofs,  tin  clippings,  etc.,  etc. ;  and  includes  the  whole  of  that 
section  lying  between  Twentieth  and  Twenty-sixth  Streets  and  the  Tenth 
Avenue  and  the  Hudson  River,  a  small  space  at  the  corner  of  Tenth 
Avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  Street  excepted,  which  is  natural. 

Sewerage. — The  district  is  imperfectly  sewered.  The  Seventh 
Avenue,  from  Twentieth  to  Twenty-fifth  Streets  ;  the  Ninth  Avenue,  from 
Twentieth  to  Twenty-third  Streets ;  the  Tenth  Avenue,  from  Twen- 
tieth to  Twenty-third  Streets,  and  from  Twenty-fourth  to  Twenty-sixth 
Streets  ;  the  whole  of  the  Eleventh  Avenue,  and  short  spaces  in  Twenty- 
fourth  and  Twenty-fifth  Streets,  near  the  Eighth  and  also  near  the  Ninth 
Avenues,  have  no  sewers.  The  mouths  of  the  sewers  arc  above  water  at 
low-water  mark  ;  and  the  pressure  of  the  tides  entering  them  forces  the 
noxious  gases  into  the  dwellings  and  streets  through  the  sewer  connection. 

Natural  Drainage. — The  natural  drainage  of  that  portiou  of  the 


DOMICILES  AND  PEOPLE. 


197 


district  west  of  the  Tenth  Avenue  is  poor  ;  east  of  the  Tenth  Avenue  is 
much  better,  as  the  foregoing  table  of  altitude  shows,  the  ground  having 
an  inclination  from  the  north  to  the  south,  and  from  the  east  to  the  west. 

Thoroughfares. — The  cross  streets  run  nearly  northeast  and  south- 
west, the  avenues  crossing  them  at  right  angles.  The  former  are  about 
CO  feet  in  width,  while  the  avenues  are  100.  They  are  all  graded  and 
paved,  the  Eleventh  Avenue  excepted ;  the  paving  in  use  being  chiefly 
irregular  cobble  stones,  in  a  few  the  trap-block  pavement  is  employed. 

The  larger  proportion  of  the  streets  is  in  a  good  condition,  and  has 
been  kept  during  the  past  summer  tolerably  clean  ;  but  the  irregular  inter- 
stices between  the  cobble  stones  prevent  the  entire  removal  of  retained  organic 
and  other  matter,  however  thorough  the  cleaning.  Many  persons  have  an 
idea  that  heavy  rains  cleanse  our  streets  and  gutters  thoroughly ;  it  is 
erroneous. 

Character  of  Population. — Two-thirds  (about  16,600)  of  its  in- 
habitants are  of  the  better  class,  the  remaining  third  (about  8,300)  con- 
sists of  the  lower.  Most  of  them  are  American  born,  engaged  in  various 
occupations  or  mechanical  pursuits  ;  nearly  all  them  being  in  a  condition 
to  obtain  a  comfortable  livelihood. 

Character  of  Dwellings. — Of  the  2,160  dwellings  in  the  district, 
1 ,006  are  used  exclusively  as  private  residences,  while  a  little  more  than 
half  (1,154)  are  tenant-houses,  each  containing  two,  three,  four,  or  more 
families,  and  two-fifths  of  these  contain  each  only  two  families,  and  are 
entitled  to  all  the  considerations  of  a  private  dwelling,  and  should  pass  as 
such.  The  private  residences  are  nearly  all  of  recent  construction,  built 
of  brick  or  brown  stone,  having  all  the  modern  improvements,  such  as  the 
introduction  of  gas,  Croton-water,  baths,  furnaces,  water-closets,  and 
proper  sewer  connections.  The  buildings  are  of  ample  size,  possessing 
good  water  supplies.  Of  tenant-houses,  a  variety  were  found ;  most  of 
them  being  of  the  better  order,  built  within  the  last  twenty-five  or  twenty- 
eight  years,  the  materials  used  in  constructing  them  being  brick.  Quite 
a  number  of  these  are  frame  buildings,  which  were  originally  intended 
and  used  as  private  dwellings.  The  drainage  of  many  is  defective,  and 
very  often  absolutely  wanting.  Some  of  the  drains  are  liable  to  obstruc- 
tions, and  cause  overflows.  But  few  of  them  have  a  water  supply  in  the 
house,  but  none  arc  without  water  in  the  yard.  The  facilities  for  dis- 
posing of  garbage  and  house-slops  are,  in  almost  every  instance,  defective  ; 
the  street  gutters  becoming,  as  a  rule,  the  receptacle  of  the  same. 

Privies. — The  privies  are  located  in  yards,  sometimes  in  cellars  ;  or 
underneath  the  sidewalks,  sometimes  on  each  floor.  Often  the  neigh- 
boring ground  is  covered  with  filth.    Constant  violations  of  the  law,  in 


198 


REPORT  OF  TIIE  SEVENTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


locating,  constructing,  and  emptying  these,  were  observed  ;  as  an  evidence 
thereof  Tve  subjoin  the  following  remarks  noted  down  in  our  record  book  : 
"  The  privies  (too  in  one)  of  N os.  —  and  —  West  Twenty-fourth  Street 
need  instant  cleaning.  They  are  overflowing  the  yard,  and  are  very  offen- 
sive. The  privy  at  No.  —  Seventh  Avenue,  as  in  the  preceding  two  ad- 
joining houses,  is  in  the  yard,  and  adjoins  the  house,  and  is  on  a  line 
with  the  southerly  wall  of  house  No.  —  (the  adjacent  house) ,  which  has 
a  back  area ;  the  wall  of  said  area  being  part  of  the  foundation  of  the 
privy.  At  times  the  fluid  portion  of  the  privy  oozes  through  its  own  and 
the  area  wall.  If  the  privy  were  located  and  built  in  the  manner  laid 
down  in  the  city  ordinances  (vide  '  Laws  of  the  Public  Health  for  1861, 
page  113,  §  4'),  this  would  not  be  the  case." 

Annexed  is  another  wood-cut,  portraying  the  privy  found  in  the  dark 
and  damp  cellar  of  the  rear  tenant-house  No.  —  West  Twenty-second 
Street. 


This  privy  is  used  by  42  persons  ; 
it  has  five  subdivisions,  one  for 
every  two  families.  The  compart- 
ments are  so  small  that  a  person 
can  scarcely  turn  around  in  them, 
and  so  dark  that  they  have  to  be 
entered  with  an  artificial  light. 
The  cellar  itself,  as  has  been  stated, 
is  damp,  dark,  and  without  ven- 
tilation. Under  such  circumstances 
the  emanation  of  the  excrementitious 
matter  of  42  persons  can  find  no 
escape;  thus  this  privy-cellar  is 
worse  than  a  Stygian  pit. 
These  are  not  isolated  cases,  neither  are  they  the  worst.  A  perfectly 
law-and-sanitary-abiding  privy  attached  to  a  tenant-house,  is  the  excep- 
tional, while  the  reverse  is  the  prevailing  rule. 

Size  of  Atartments. — The  dimensions  of  the  rooms  and  number 
of  occupants  vary  much.  There  are  bedrooms  9  x11  x  10=990  cubic 
feet,  having  no  ventilation,  occupied  by  16  persons,  which  nets  each 
individual  about  62  cubic  feet  of  atmosphere  of  a  foul  character.  Another 
tenant-house,  covering  an  area  of  750  square  feet  and  38  feet  high,  is  oc- 
cupied by  10  families,  consisting  of  42  persons.  This  house  has  a  nar- 
row hall  running  through  its  middle,  with  apartments  consisting  of  a 
kitchen  and  two  dormitories  for  one  family  on  each  side.  The  dormito- 
ries are  each  7x9x8—504  cubic  feet  in  dimensions.    The  rooms  aro 


p 

p 

/  ■ 

r 

p 



p 
p 

i 

p 

;"\-  -i  - 1 

■ — 

PEEV AILING  MALADIES  AND  PREVENTABLE  DISEASES.  19S 


crowded  throughout  the  whole  building,  each  occupant  having  less  than 
240  cubic  feet  of  space.  Neither  are  these  isolated  pictures  ;  many  other 
dwellings  are  in  as  overcrowded  a  state.  The  effluvia  in  them  is  noxious 
and  poisonous,  caused  by  the  gaseous  emanations  from  the  inhabitants, 
sinks,  and  drain-pipes. 

Public  Schools. — On  inspecting  them,  many  points  for  criticism  pre- 
sented themselves,  but  we  will  be  content  to  mention,  in  the  proper  place, 
only  the  objections  appertaining  to  their  sanitary  condition. 

Prevailing  Diseases. — Diseases  in  a  topography  and  climate  like  this 
should  be  mild  and  few  in  number,  and  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view  the 
whole  district  will  compare  favorably  with  any  other  portion  of  the  city, 
no  considerable  part  of  it  having  been  during  the  past  summer  a  sickly 
one  ;  isolated  places  excepted.  During  the  early  summer  months  dysen- 
tery of  a  mild  character  prevailed  in  the  district,  west  of  the  Tenth  Avenue, 
on  reclaimed  ground.  In  all,  nineteen  houses  were  found  where  typhoid 
or  typhus  fever  prevailed  during  the  past  summer,  but  not  one  case  came 
under  my  personal  notice  during  the  progress  of  inspection.  A  few 
sporadic  cases  of  measles  and  scarlet  fever  occurred  in  May  and  June, 
while  diphtheria  and  small-pox  had  prevailed  during  the  previous  winter. 
It  is  worth  remarking,  that  by  far  the  greatest  number  of  cases  of  diphthe- 
ria, tonsilitis,  and  pharyngeal  inflammations  occurred  near  the  river  side, 
especially  in  houses  whose  cellars  are  partially  or  wholly  filled  with  water, 
infiltrated  from  the  Hudson  River.  Articular  rheumatism  also  appears 
to  have  a  preference  for  this  locality.  For  a  few  weeks  (during  the  pro- 
tracted heated  term)  cholera  infantum  was  rife  among  infants  of  the' 
poor ;  many  cases  proving  fatal  within  24  or  36  hours  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  disease. 

Preventable  Causes  of  Disease. — We  start  with  the  bold  asser- 
tion, that  specific  diseases  did  not  spring  from  an  original  unit !  They 
arise  from  a  chemical  combination  of  materials  in  certain  proportions  or 
equivalents.  Some  of  these  materials  are  filth,  heat  and  moisture  :  they  are 
violations  of  hygienic  laws,  and  may  very  often  coexist  without  develop- 
ing any  disease  ;  inasmuch  as  absence  of  the  exact  equivalents  of  the  ele- 
mentary exciting  causes,  to  cooperate  in  union  with  proper  combining 
forces  or  affinities,  are  accidentally  wanting.  At  a  proper  season,  sur- 
rounded by  favorable  circumstances,  and  in  due  equivalents,  they  will 
give  spontaneous  birth  to  this  class  of  maladies.  Had  we  been  favored 
during  the  past  summer  with  much  rain  or  a  low  dew-point,  an  epidemic 
of  typhoid  or  typhus  would  have  been  inevitable. 

In  the  putrefactive  decomposition  of  sewage,  evolving  sulphuretted  and 
carburctted  hydrogen,  ammonia,  nitrogen,  etc.,  etc.,  we  have  an  invisible 
yet  obvious  source  of  a  large  amount  of  poisonous  elements.    The  filthy 


200         REPORT  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


condition  of  the  streets,  avenues,  and  gutters,  constitutes  one  great  cause 
)f  sickness.  In  our  opinion,  the  decaying  organic  matters  found  in  them 
and  the  garbage-boxes  form  a  prominent  cause  in  producing  dysentery 
and  diarrhoea.  The  habit  of  sprinkling  with  water  the  thoroughfares  dur- 
ing the  heated  term  is  pernicious,  and  becomes  a  prolific  source  of  mala- 
ria. The  water  lodges  in  the  irregular  depressions  between  the  cobble 
stones,  moistening  the  organic  matters  retained  by  these  interstices,  which 
are  acted  upon  by  the  sun,  generating  malaria.  Cases  of  fever  occurring 
in  young  children  are  frequently  met  with,  that  have  been  exposed  to  no 
other  kind  of  malarial  influences.  The  geological  formation  of  the  dis- 
trict is  certainly  not  calculated  to  the  production  of  malaria.  In  how  far 
the  thermo-hygro  and  barometrical  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  may  in- 
fluence a  special  relationship  between  these  diseases,  is  still  obscure. 

The  universal  imperfect  water  supply  and  drainage,  with  the  poor 
facilities  for  disposing  of  garbage  and  offal,  and  filthy  reeky  outhouses, 
must  per  se  create  disease. 

Another  great  cause  of  disease  will  be  found  in  many  dwellings  which 
are  out  of  repair,  and  their  yards  (if  any  at  all)  in  so  filthy  a  condition 
that  to  step  into  them  would  insure  an  encounter  with  filth  of  a  most  of- 
fensive character.  Most  of  the  larger  tenant-houses  are  in  a  state  of 
muckiness,  and,  as  a  rule,  overcrowded,  without  ventilation  or  light.  These 
are  offensive  enough  (and  incapable  to  preserve  a  normal  standard  of 
health),  but  the  crowded  rear  tenant-houses,  completely  cut  off  from  external 
ventilation  and  perhaps  light,  are  still  worse.  They  abound  in  dark,  damp, 
'and  noisome  basements  and  cellars,  converted  into  sleeping  apartments. 
To  these  the  invigorating  and  health-preserving  sunlight  and  fresh  air  are 
never  accessible.  As  an  illustration  of  one  of  these  habitats,  we  subjoin 
the  following  sketch  of  the  quarters  of  two  families  residing  in  the  cellar 
of  the  rear  house  No.  —  West  21st  Street : 

L  L  are  the  living-rooms — nearly 
dark.  D  D  dormitories — dark  and 
damp. 

Here  we  have  low,  damp,  dark, 
and  unventilatcd  bedrooms,  whose 
inmates  respire  a  murky  air,  and  con- 
sort with  snails,  spiders,  and  muck- 
worms. These  underground  habita- 
tions are  most  pernicious  in  laying 
the  foundation  for,  and  developing 
strumous  ophthalmia,  hip-joint,  and 
certain  disease  of  the  spine,  diseases 
of  the  respiratory  organs  (the  chief 


BEUTAL  HEALTH  WARDENS.  WRETCHED  MOTHEES. 


201 


of  which  is  consumption),  rheumatism,  which  in  turn  produces  organic 
diseases  of  the  heart.  A  protracted  residence  in  these  cellars  and  base- 
ments is  sure  to  develop  a  strumous  or  tubercular  cachexia. 

The  following  case,  copied  from  my  daily  Record-Book,  is  but  an  ex- 
ample of  its  class,  the  homes  of  ignorance  and  indigence  : 

"  At  No.  —  West  25th  Street,  a  wretched  tenement  of  two  apart- 
ments, the  rooms  occupied  by  one  family.  The  sitting-room  is  about 
10  X  12  feet,  and  the  bedroom  about  5  X  12,  without  a  single  loindow  or 
air  liole.  These  rooms  were  occupied  in  the  hot  month  of  July  by  a 
poor  colored  female,  having  pulmonary  consumption,  and  her  two  children. 
Here  she  died,  shortly  after  we  made  the  inspection  of  her  domicilium  ; 
having  no  money  or  friends  a  Christian  burial  was  denied  her  for  four 
days,  although  the  neighbors  acquainted  the  police  of  the  fact,  and  they 
the  Health  "Warden ;  but  this  official  (a  brick-mason) ,  having  a  high  re- 
gard for  his  olfactory  sense,  neglected  to  perform  his  duty  until  Dr.  Wm. 
C.  Hunter  and  myself  drove  him  into  the  performance  of  the  same." 

Improper  food,  Intemperance,  etc. — In  connection  with  the  overcrowded 
condition  of  tenant-houses,  we  must  incidentally  state  that  the  diet  of 
many  families  occupying  this  class  of  houses  is  insufficient  in  quantity 
and  quality.  To  meat,  fresh  vegetables,  and  fruits,  they  are  almost  strang- 
ers, and  subsist  on  inferior  farinaceous  products.  This  mode  of  living 
with  their  surroundings  produces  a  low  standard  of  health,  and  oftentimes 
disease.  It  is  impossible  that  the  milk  of  a  mother  or  a  nurse  residing 
in  one  of  these  wretched  hovels  or  dungeons,  can  be  of  a  good  and  suffi- 
cient quality  and  quantity  for  the  nurseling ;  it  must  produce  a  faulty 
alimentation  or  assimilation,  and  become  the  predisposing,  if  not  exciting 
cause  of  cholera  infantum,  which  is  fully  developed  by  meteorological  in- 
fluences during  the  summer  months.  Such  milk  is  deprived  of  the  solu- 
ble salts  of  iron,  potash,  and  lime,  which  infants  especially  require  at  the 
period  of  rapid  growth,  for  the  formation  of  blood,  muscle,  and  bone. 

Deviations  from  a  healthful  standard  of  hygienic  supplies,  such  as 
fresh  atmosphere,  light,  and  electricity,  and  the  vital  stimulus  of  aliment- 
ation, constitute  some  of  the  principal  causes  of  disease.  The  filth  ob- 
served in  a  great  number  of  tenant-houses,  in  the  bedsteads,  bedding, 
clothing,  and  carpets  of  the  occupants,  is  detrimental  to  health.  The 
poisonous  drinks  which  are  indulged  in  by  this  class  of  people,  tend  to  de- 
teriorate and  degrade  the  race.  Manure  heaps  saturate  the  soil  they  oc- 
cupy with  organic  matter,  which,  under  the  joint  action  of  sun,  heat,  and 
moisture,  must  produce  disease.  The  sale  of  stale  vegetables,  fish,  and 
unripe  fruit  by  street-hawkers  to  the  poor,  is  a  most  potent  cause  in  pro- 
ducing cholera  morbus,  diarrhoea,  and  dysentery.    We  have  repeatedly 


202  REPORT  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


observed  the  ill-effects  which  followed  the  use  of  such  articles  of  diet. 
For  a  full  account  of  these,  I  take  pleasure  in  referring  to  the  observa- 
tions made  by  Dr.  J.  Lewis  Smith,  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District. 

Faulty  Hygiene  in  Public  Schools — The  public  school  rooms  are  over- 
crowded, the  ventilation  defective,  the  atmosphere  is  too  dry  for  the  res- 
piratory organs,  and  the  hours  for  study  too  long. 

•  Conclusions. — But  the  causes  observed  and  enumerated  appear  hardly 
sufficient  to  account  for  all  the  sickness  in  our  midst.  Causes  which  have 
probably  hitherto  eluded  our  observations,  may  play  an  important  role  in 
increasing  our  rates  of  sickness,  and  we  therefore  subjoin  the  following 
remarks : 

How  are  Communicable  Diseases  spread. — Communicable  diseases  are 
conveyed,  to  our  positive  knowledge,  by  paper-money,  second-hand  furni- 
ture, clothing,  bedding,  and  public  conveyances.  For  most  of  these  we 
have  personal  evidence,  namely:  In  the  spring  of  1861,  we  had  occa- 
sion to  attend  a  young  gentleman  with  small-pox,  who  was  clerk  in  a 
banking-house.  Where  and  how  he  contracted  the  disease  was  unknown 
to  him  ;  but  several  weeks  after  his  recovery  he  learned  that  he  had 
opened  and  counted,  a  few  days  before  his  sickness,  a  large  package  of 
money  forwarded  by  a  Western  bank,  whose  cashier,  residing  in  the  bank 
building,  had  recently  suffered  from  the  small-pox. 

As  to  the  matter  of  public  hacks,  we  would  state  that,  some  five  years 
ago,  we  had  under  our  professional  care  a  young  gentleman  with  vario- 
loid. Being  an  inmate  of  a  New  York  "  boarding-house  "  (houses  of  star- 
vation) ,  he  was  anxious  to  go  to  his  sister's  home  in  Williamsburgh  ;  he 
was  accordingly  transferred  on  the  second  day  of  the  eruption  across 
the  river,  in  one  of  the  public  hacks.  It  is  very  probable  that  any  per- 
son unprotected  by  vaccination,  riding  very  soon  afterward  in  this  car- 
riage, would  contract  the  disease. 

A  year  and  a  half  ago  I  attended  the  first  officer  (now  a  captain)  of 
an  emigrant  ship  with  typhus  fever.  On  recovering  he  returned  to  his 
vessel.  His  captain,  at  our  suggestion,  prohibited  him  from  bringing  his 
clothing  on  board.  He  disposed  of  them  to  a  second-hand  clothes  dealer. 
There  was  danger  that  whoever  came  in  contact  with  these  garments 
would  contract  typhus ! 

Still  another  case  :  Last  spring,  while  riding  in  an  Eighth  Avenue 
car,  we  sat  near  a  poor  woman  who  had  a  sick  child  in  her  arms.  The 
child  coughed  and  sneezed,  and  appeared  very  uncomfortable.  A  veil  be- 
coming displaced,  with  which  the  child's  face  was  covered,  I  beheld  a  fine 
case  of  measles.  For  an  interesting  statement  how  communicable  dis- 
eases arc  transferred,  we  refer  the  reader  to  the  able  report  of  Dr.  Ache- 


TENANT-HOUSE  EVILS  AND  REMEDIES. 


203 


son.  It  is  certain  that,  aside  from  the  insalubrious  conditions  of  these 
cases,  they  are  often  the  means  by  which  diseases  are  conveyed  from  one 
person  to  another,  which  no  legislation  can  arrest ;  and  the  only  advice 
we  can  give  to  the  public  is,  that  they  should  never  enter  these  cars  when 
crowded  or  ill-ventilated. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  causes  which  increase  our  mortuary  tables 
each  year,  lies  in  the  fact  of  the  people  being  deceived  by  ignorant,  so- 
called  physicians,  and  advertising  charlatans.  The  constant  and  indiscrimi- 
nate use  of  patent  medicines  and  domestic  remedies — the  former  frequently 
endorsed  by  clergymen  and  other  kindly-disposed  but  mistaken  people — 
are  all  causes  tending  to  shorten  life.  But  for  our  timely  interference,  the 
morphine  contained  in  Mrs.  Winslow's  Soothing  Syrup  would  have  de- 
stroyed one  of  our  little  patients. 

As  the  result  of  our  observations  and  comparison  with  the  European 
cities  we  have  visited,  we  beg  leave  to  express  the  opinion  that  these 
causes  require  the  enactment  of  stringent  laws,  which  if  enforced  would 
result  in  the  preservation  of  the  public  health  ;  and  we  therefore  respect- 
fully suggest  a  few 

Remedial  Measures. — All  dormitories  should  furnish  at  least  800 
cubic  feet  of  fresh  atmosphere  to  each  occupant,  and  be  provided  with 
good  external  and  internal  ventilation.  We  can  do  no  better  than  to 
quote  Dr.  Barton :  "  Houses  in  a  climate  like  ours  should  be  so  con- 
structed as  to  promote  the  maximum  of  ventilation,  and  the  minimum  of 
moisture  and  temperature.  "Where  these  are  not  fulfilled,  with  a  proper 
protection  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather  (hot  and  cold),  they  fail 
in  their  objects.  The  admission  of  light,  too,  is  important  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  dwelling,  to  the  enjoyment  of  health,  and  the  prevention  of 
disease.  It  renders  disease  milder  when  it  occurs,  and  makes  it  more  readily 
amenable  to  medical  and  other  treatment.  There  is  reputable  medical 
testimony  to  prove  that  some  diseases,  in  dark  alleys  and  cellars,  cannot 
be  cured  without  it.  Dark  passages  and  corners  in  dwellings  are  always 
the  hiding-places  of  dirt  and  filth,  and  particularly  in  the  habitations  of 
the  poor." 

Municipal  or  State  laws  should  prescribe  limits  to  the  height  of  tenant- 
houses  and  their  ceilings,  the  number  and  size  of  the  windows,  doors,  flues, 
and  fire-places. 

As  a  model  for  a  tenant-house  we  add  the  following  plan  of  the  tenant- 
house  No.  107  West  Twenty-fourth  Street.  It  is  simply  a  plain  adapta- 
tion of  common  ideas  and  means  of  domestic  convenience  to  the  ordinary 
house  with  family  domiciles  front  and  rear  on  each  floor.  And  this  plan 
would  be  still  better  were  the  lobby  (h)  a  little  more  spacious,  with  a 


204  REPORT  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


door  communicating  with  the  larger  of  the  bedrooms,  (D),  so  as  to  add 
certain  advantages  of  privacy  and  through  ventilation,  independent  of 
the  living-room  (S). 

IMPROVED  TENANT-HOUSE. 


S,  Sitting-room.  D,  Dormitory.  K,  Kitchen.  P,  Pantry. 

H,  Principal  halL  A,  Small  hall  or  lobby.  C,  Closet 

Each  bedroom  is  made  to  communicate  with  a  ventilating  shaft  by  means  of  sliding 

windows. 


The  above  house  is  occupied  by  8  families,  consisting  of  18  adults  and 
11  children.  In  connection  with  all  the  conveniences  for  a  small  family, 
wc  found  excellent  ventilation  and  light. 


EVILS  TO  BE  REMEDIED. 


205 


Each  dwelling  should  be  provided  with  a  yard  in  the  rear  at  least  as 
large  as  the  ground  is  on  which  the  dwelling  stands.  In  this  way  we 
prevent  the  criminal  custom  of  building  houses  back  to  back,  which  de- 
stroys ventilation  and  the  free  admission  of  light. 

Cellar  Dwellings  should  he  Prohibited. — The  use  of  cellars  or  under- 
ground rooms  as  dwellings  must  be  prohibited  by  law.  In  these  we 
almost  invariably  found  a  low  dew-point  and  a  stagnant  atmosphere.  In 
such  habitations,  the  elimination  and  evaporation  of  the  excretions  is  per- 
ceptibly arrested  ;  and  the  most  noxious  of  all  substances  to  the  human 
body  is  its  own  worn-out  materials. 

Every  tenant-house  should  be  furnished  with  a  sufficient  number  of 
privies,  with  a  thorough  system  of  cesspool  drainage,  having  an  ample  sup- 
ply of  water  and  drain-traps  or  valves.  No  privy  should  be  emptied  until 
its  contents  has  been  deodorized.  A  correct  system  of  draining-sewers, 
either  by  increasing  their  diameter  to  facilitate  hand-labor,  or  by  a  pro- 
cess of  flushing,  is  strongly  recommended. 

Sewer  Gases. — Means  must  be  adopted  to  prevent  or  destroy  the 
noxious  vapors  arising  from  sewers.  Many  methods  have  been  suggested 
and  tried  ;  but  the  most  effective  and  durable  one,  and  one  involving  the 
least  expense  and  care  of  destroying  these,  with  which  we  are  acquainted, 
is  wood  or  peat  charcoal,  as  recommended  by  Dr.  Stenhouse.  The  applica- 
tion of  this  remedy  is  very  simple,  and  consists  in  depositing  a  few  pounds 
of  charcoal  in  a  perforated  wooden,  metallic,  or  earthen  vessel  or  box. 
Such  boxes  or  vessels  containing  charcoal  are  tightly  fitted  in  places  where 
these  gases  escape,  in  such  a  manner  that  they  must  pass  through  the 
charcoal  as  through  a  filter. 

The  universal  setting  out  of  trees  in  the  streets  is  recommended.  The 
nearer  a  city  approaches  the  condition  of  rural  districts,  the  nearer  will 
it  reach  a  state  of  salubrity. 

"We  earnestly  recommend  the  establishment  of  a  Board  of  Health  or 
Health  Department,  to  consist  of  one  or  more  competent  Doctors  in  Medi- 
cine, Architects,  Surveyors,  and  Civil  Engineers  :  this  board  should  appoint 
to  each  ward  one  competent  physician,  who  should  be  styled  Medical 
or  Health  Officer.  They  also  may  appoint  such  other  persons  as  assistants 
to  the  last  as  may  seem  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  the  sanitary  laws, 
and  delegate  to  them  the  necessary  powers,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
Board  of  Health. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

EIGHTEENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


H.   M.   FIELD,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries,  etc. — Tlie  Eighteenth  Sanitary  District  comprises  the  south- 
ern half  of  the  Eighteenth  Ward,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Twen- 
tieth Street,  on  the  east  by  the  East  Biver,  south  by  East  Fourteenth  Street, 
and  west  by  the  Sixth  Avenue. 

Topography. — As  the  map  on  the  next  page  will  convey  a  correct 
idea  of  the  natural  topography  of  my  district,  it  is  only  necessary  to  add 
a  few  statements,  as  illustrative,  in  this  connection. 

General  Viele,  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Engineers,  has  truly  re- 
marked :  "  It  is  folly  to  suppose  that  when  the  city  is  fully  huilt  upon,  and 
the  valleys  filled  up,  no  water  will  find  its  way  into  the  beds  of  its  original 
streams.  I  know  to  the  contrary ;  and  my  own  experience,  during  a  resi- 
dence in  a  southwestern  city  while  au  epidemic  was  in  progress,  taught 
me  that  in  all  localities  where  there  were  original  depressions  in  the  topo- 
graphy, the  disease  raged  with  the  greatest  violence,  although  there  was 
no  apparent  presence  of  water  or  even  of  moisture  in  the  ground." 
Several  striking  illustrations  of  this  phenomenon  have  come  to  my 
knowledge  within  the  range  of  this  district.  One  of  particular  import- 
ance will  be  adverted  to  further  on  in  the  report,  which  indeed  suggested 
the  aetiology  of  an  epidemic  in  a  certain  locality,  where  every  other  cause 
has  seemed  inadequate  to  account  for  it.  A  physician  of  my  acquaintance 
has  the  particulars  of  a  case  which  occurred  in  connection  with  the  stream 
which  formerly  flowed  through  a  part  of  what  is  now  Union  Square.  All 
appearance  of  this  stream  has  long  since  passed  away  ;  and  yet  the  cellar 
of  ii  house  on  Seventeenth  Street  near  the  square,  which  was  ascertained, 
on  inquiry,  to  have  been  built  immediately  uoonthc  channel  of  this  former 


PRIMITIVE  AND  PRESENT  TOPOGRAPHY. 


207 


MAP  ILLUSTRATING  THE  MEDICAL 
TOPOGEAPHY  OF  THE  EIGH- 
TEENTH DISTRICT. 


stream,  was  found  to  receive  water 
at  certain  seasons  of  the  year ;  and 
until  it  was  relieved  by  extending  the 
sewer,  an  especial  arrangement  was 
necessary  for  collecting  the  water 
and  conducting  it  off.  The  gentle- 
man who  lived  in  this  house  suffered 
much  of  the  time  with  "  chills  and 
fever,"  which,  it  was  satisfactorily 
ascertained,  could  have  been  contract- 
ed nowhere  except  in  his  own  home. 
I  shall  have  occasion  to  allude  to  this 
subject  again  in  the  course  of  my  re- 
port, and  other  illustrations  will  then 
be  given. 

Streets  and  Avenues. — All  the 
streets  in  this  district  are  parallel  to 
each  other  (making  the  common  dis- 
tinction between  streets  and  avenues, 
for  convenience'  sake),  and  so  are 
the  avenues.  Broadway,  however, 
so  far  as  it  extends  in  my  district, 
runs  diagonally  to  the  avenues.  The 
pavement  of  the  principal  avenues  is 
the  trap-block,  which,  in  many  re- 
spects, is  a  perfect  model.  But  the 
pavement  of  the  streets,  except  of  a 
small  portion  of  "West  Sixteenth 
Street,  where  the  pavement  of  the 
avenues  has  lately  been  extended,  is 
cobble  stone,  and  is,  at  the  best,  un- 
even, containing  frequent  depression. 
In  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  es- 
pecially, these  holes  are  very  com- 
mon, and  often  large  and  deep.  For 
cleanliness  and  facilities  for  thorough 
sweeping,  no  pavement  yet  introduc- 
ed surpasses  the  Belgian.  In  the 
cobble  stone  there  are  necessarily 
large  spaces  between  the  stones  which 
must  be  filled  with  sand.    More  or 


208 


EEPOItT  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  SANITAKY  DISTRICT. 


less  of  this  filling  is  apt  to  be  displaced  at  any  time.  The  same  broom 
may  sweep  a  portion  of  the  sand  out  of  a  cavity,  and  a  part  of  the  filth 
which  is  lying  about  on  the  street  into  it.  Where  there  are  so  many  traps 
for  filth,  and  where  the  streets  are  allowed  to  go  so  long  without  sweep- 
ing, as  are  those  streets  of  our  city  which  need  it  the  most,  and  are  then 
swept  carelessly,  it  becomes  a  serious  evil.  With  the  first  season  of  dry 
weather  the  organic  part  of  this  refuse  is  converted  into  dust,  and,  rising 
into  the  air,  is  borne  in  every  direction  by  the  wind.  The  streets  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  district,  east  of  First  Avenue  especially,  have  for  the 
past  six  months  been  in  a  most  inexcusably  filthy  condition.  The  pave- 
ment here  is  uneven,  there  are  deep  gutters  at  either  side  of  the  streets, 
filled  with  foul  slops,  in  which  float  or  are  sunk  every  form  of  decaying 
animal  and  vegetable  matter.  Occasionally,  at  remote  and  irregular 
intervals,  carts  come  round,  and  these  stagnant  pools  are  dredged  so  to 
speak,  and  their  black  and  decayed  solid  contents  raked  out.  If  there  be 
any  thing  on  earth  that  is  "  rank  and  smells  to  Heaven,"  these  gutters  do 
on  such  occasions,  especially  in  the  summer  months.  The  streets  in  this 
part  of  the  city  are  the  principal  depositories  of  garbage.  In  some  in- 
stances heaped-up  at  the  sides  of  the  streets,  in  others  thrown  about  pro- 
miscuously, the  event  in  either  case  is  the  same,  if  it  be  allowed  to  re- 
main day  after  day,  as  it  usually  is.  After  having  passed  through  every 
stage  of  decay,  after  having  corrupted  the  surrounding  air  with  its  pestilen- 
tial smell,  it  gradually  becomes  desiccated  and  converted  into  dust  by  the 
summer  sun  and  the  constantly-passing  vehicles.  And  now  every  horse 
that  passes  stirs  it  up,  every  vehicle  leaves  a  cloud  of  it  behind ;  it  is 
lifted  into  the  air  with  every  wind  and  carried  in  every  direction. 
Those  who  are  directly  responsible  for  this  state  of  things  suffer  no  more 
than  the  cleanly  and  thrifty  who  are  so  unfortunate  as  to  live  anywhere 
the  wind,  blowing  from  this  quarter,  reaches  them.  And  what  &  pulvis 
composilus  is  this  to  breathe  into  the  lungs  !  As  we  pass  by  our  mouths 
become  full  of  it,  we  draw  it  in  with  our  breath,  it  is  swallowed  into  the 
stomach,  it  penetrates  our  dress  and  clings  to,  until  it  has  covered,  our 
perspiring  skin.  Surely  no  dumping-ground,  no  sewer,  no  vault  contains 
more  filth  or  in  greater  variety  than  did  the  air  in  certain  parts  of  our 
city  during  the  long  season  of  drought  the  past  summer.  And  wherever 
the  wind  blows,  this  foul  corruption  is  carried  ;  by  a  process  as  sure  and 
universal  as  the  diffusion  of  gases,  is  it  conveyed  throughout  the  city. 
Such,  often,  is  the  air  drawn  into  the  lungs  with  every  respiration,  of  the 
poor  sufferer  stifled  with  consumption  or  burning  with  fever.  No  barrier 
can  shut  it  out,  no  social  distinction  can  save  us  from  it;  no  domestic 
cleanliness,  no  private  sanitary  measures  can  substitute  a  pure  atmosphere 
lor  o  foul  oue. 


AVENUES  OF  WEALTH. — STREETS  OE  POVERTY. 


209 


The  forbearance  of  nature  is  wonderful ;  her  power  and  her  readiness 
to  adapt  herself  to  conditions  the  most  strange  and  unnatural :  hut  surely 
the  forbearance  of  man  is  even  more  marvellous,  at  least  that  part  of  the 
human  family  who  live  in  this  city !  It  is  only  the  very  lowest  orders  of 
animated  beings  that  draw  their  life  and  sustenance  from  filth  and  ordure, 
and  at  the  same  time  that  they  grow  and  fatten  upon  it  increase  the 
heap  ;  and  what  could  evidence  a  sadder  lapse  from  probity  and  honesty, 
or  a  lower  status  in  the  moral  scale,  than  the  "  specious  way  of  doing 
nothing  "  of  certain  of  our  city  officials  ? 

Squares. — The  district  includes  55  squares.  As  a  rule,  those  west 
of  Third  Avenue  are  in  a  tolerably  good  sanitary  condition ;  those  east 
of  Third  Avenue,  as  far  as  to  First  Avenue,  are  in  a  mixed  condition ; 
while  that  of  all  the  section  east  of  the  latter  boundary  line  is  positively 
insalubrious.  This  rule  has,  of  course,  a  few  exceptions.  The  greater 
part  of  Second  Avenue,  for  instance,  from  Fourteenth  to  Eighteenth 
Street,  in  respect  of  all  sanitary  considerations,  will  compare  favorably 
with  the  same  extent  of  Fifth  Avenue :  or,  again,  Eighteenth  Street, 
nearly  to  the  corner  of  First  Avenue,  is  well  built-up  with  highly-respect- 
able private  residences,  and  is  in  as  sanitary  a  condition  as  its  surround- 
ings will  admit  of.*  On  the  other  hand,  on  Sixth  Avenue,  between 
Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  Streets,  are  several  tenant-houses,  and  especially 
a  rear  house  which  can  assert  no  privilege,  aside  from  the  fact  of  better 
neighborhood,  over  the  average  of  tenant-houses  in  the  east  part  of  the 
district.f  As  a  rule,  however,  where  exceptions  on  either  hand  will  about 
balance  each  other,  we  have  27  squares  belonging  to  the  first  class,  13 
belonging  to  the  second,  and  15  belonging  to  the  third. 

The  Inhabitants. — The  subdivision  under  the  last  head  of  squares 
answers  very  well  for  the  people  dwelling  in  the  different  series  of  squares. 
The  first  division  contains  the  principal  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  district. 
But  if  the  inhabitants  are  more  wealthy,  they  are  in  no  way  more  respect- 
able than  those  who  live  in  the  second  division  ;  they  have  in  their  favor, 
however,  more  complete  sanitary  conditions,  having  more  space,  and 
streets  much  better  built  and  better  kept.  In  the  second  division  are 
found  most  of  the  artisans  and  trades-people  of  the  district,  with  now  and 
then  exceptions  of  wealth  and  social  position  as  magnificent  as  any  thing 
which  can  be  found  in  the  first.  But  this  class  of  the  population,  the 
bourgeoisie,  although  it  predominates  in  the  second  section,  is  distributed 
throughout  the  entire  district  by  means  of  the  avenues.   Each  of  the  three 

*  Square  No.  35,  in  the  Record-book,  p.  65. 
f  Square  No.  11,  in  the  Record-book,  p.  40. 

14 


210 


REPORT  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


sections  lias  a  principal  avenue,  •which  is  almost  altogether  given  up  to 
trade.  The  third  division  is  almost  entirely  occupied  by  the  lahoring" 
class,  living  in  tenant-houses,  and  here  we  find  sanitary  regulations  al- 
most entirely  neglected  ;  here  are  the  most  wide-spread  sickness,  the  most 
fearful  mortality,  and  the  greatest  amount  of  immorality,  and  misery,  and 
want ;  yet  there  is  no  inherent  reason  why  the  lahoring  class,  in  a  coun- 
try like  ours,  should  not  he  as  healthy,  as  long-lived,  and  as  moral,  and 
influential,  and  independent  a  part  of  the  community  as  it  is  an  indispens- 
able part.  Seldom  is  it  the  case  that  some  prevailing  disease  is  not  at 
work  in  this  part  of  the  city.  If  a  pestilence,  yet  unsettled,  is  about  in 
the  air,  here  are  the  tentacula  which  are  thrown  out  to  seize  hold  of  it, 
and  to  retain  it  until  it  has  established  a  firm  foothold  in  our  midst. 
There  is  no  natural  reason  why  our  city  should  not  be,  in  its  every  part, 
the  most  healthy  city  of  the  country.  Above  all  things,  nature  has  given 
security  against  its  being,  as  now  it  is,  the  most  unhealthy  city  of  the 
Northern  States ;  with  broad  rivers  washing  both  its  sides,  and  a  wide 
bay  at  its  base,  whose  rapid  tide  sweeps  away  all  that  ia  thrown  into  it, 
no  more  to  return,  it  might  be  both  clean  and  healthy.  But  we  now  find 
fever-nests  instead  of  healthful  homes  for  the  laboring  classes,  and  we  see 
filth  instead  of  cleanliness. 

As  regards  the  nationality  of  the  population  of  this  district,  nearly 
all  east  of  First  Avenue  are  Irish  and  of  Irish  descent,  with  the  occasional 
admixture  of  a  family  of  Germans.  More  of  the  latter  are  found  in  the 
middle  subdivision  than  in  any  other  part ;  in  fact,  quite  a  respectable 
proportion  of  the  population  of  that  section  are  Germans. 

Buildings. — It  will  be  seen  by  the  statistics  which  I  have  grouped 
together  at  the  end  of  this  report,  and  by  reference  to  the  record-book  of 
my  sanitary  survey,  that  quite  a  large  proportion  of  the  dwelling-houses 
in  my  district  are  private  residences.  Many  of  these  are  quite  palatial 
in  construction  and  extent,  and  in  their  furnishing ;  yet  it  is  too  often  the 
case  that,  amid  all  the  luxuries  and  conveniences  which  wealth  can  pro- 
cure, sufficient  attention  has  not  been  paid  to  the  laws  of  health,  cither  in 
the  original  construction  of  the  house,  or  in  sanitary  care  and  inspection 
afterwards.  The  method  of  ventilation  is  often  inadequate,  or  its  neces- 
sary arrangements  are  out  of  repair  ;  drainage  and  sewerage  are  more  or 
less  neglected,  and  vaults  are  not  emptied  and  cleansed  as  often  as  is  con- 
sistent with  perfect  health.  The  private  residences,  especially  the  modern 
ones,  are  generally  as  commodious  as  could  be  expected  of  houses  in  a  city 
— many  of  them  having  very  generous  accommodations,  both  as  to  houac- 
arca  and  attached  grounds.  With  regard  to  the  tenant-houses,  on  the  con- 
trary, no  more  space  is  allowed  than  is  absolutely  necessary ;  their  location 


FAULTY  CONSTRUCTION  OF  TENANT-HOUSES. 


211 


in  respect  of  each  other,  their  subdivisions  into  apartments,  and  the  ground 
allotted  to  each  house  as  a  "  back  yard,"  all  show  the  most  rigid  and  mer- 
cenary economy  of  area  and  room.  Each  family  is  provided  with  two 
rooms,  connected  together  :  a  living-room,  which  generally  measures  12  X 
14  X  8  (or  8^)  feet,  and  a  dormitory  from  one-third  to  two-thirds  this 
size.  The  majority  of  the  tenant-houses  are  four  stories  in  height,  and 
have  two  families  to  each  floor.  About  three-fourths  of  the  whole  num- 
ber in  the  district  are  built  on  this  plan.  The  remaining  one-fourth,  I 
should  judge,  would  be  about  equally  divided  between  houses  having  four, 
and  those  having  five  stories,  with  four  families  to  a  floor.  A  little  is 
gained,  and  but  little,  in  the  former  case  ;  the  rooms  of  the  houses  which 
have  but  two  apartments  to  a  floor  generally  have  three  windows  instead 
of  two,  and  as  much  more  room  only  as  is  necessary  for  the  inserting  of  a 
third  window. 

There  is  generally  no  means  of  ventilation  aside  from  what  the  ten- 
ants can  secure  by  opening  the  doors  and  windows  ;  sometimes  there  is  a 
scuttle  or  glass  window  in  the  roof,  but  not  for  ventilation. 

No  argument  or  entreaty  will  prevail  upon  them  to  keep  their  rooms 
sufficiently  aired — in  the  only  way  left  to  them,  by  opening  their  doors 
and  windows — so  long  as  they  have  to  buy  their  own  coal.  This  general 
lack  of  means  for  ventilation,  and  of  disposition  to  avail  themselves  of 
such  means  as  they  have,  is  apparent  none  the  less  in  the  effects  which  it 
produces,  than  in  the  observation  of  the  fact  itself.  How  often  have  I 
been  led  to  notice  the  striking  contrast,  in  respect  of  all  that  denotes 
health  and  its  opposite,  between  a  young  mother  and  her  family,  tenants 
of  one  of  these  non-ventilated  apartments,  and  her  sister  who  is  "out  at 
work  "  with  some  respectable  family  in  the  city,  and  who  happens  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  to  be  temporarily  at  the  house.  Nor  is  it  "  care  and 
sorrow  and  child-birth  pain  "  alone  which  have  caused  this  sad  declension 
from  health,  in  the  former  case.  You  will  find  no  member  of  this  family, 
however  young  and  free  from  domestic  care,  with  the  blooming  cheek  and 
the  bright  eye  and  the  elastic  step  of  their  temporary  visitor,  who  has  the 
range  of  a  ventilated  house,  and  who  sleeps  at  night  in  a  well-aired  cham- 
ber. This  same  fact — the  evils  attending  a  constant  want  of  pure  air — 
is  strikingly  displayed  in  connection  with  certain  forms  of  disease.  In 
typhus  and  typhoid  fever  the  system  requires  a  supply  of  pure  air,  even 
more  than  in  health,  to  enable  it  to  throw  off  the  zymotic  element  in  the 
blood.  It  has  happened  to  the  experience  of  every  one  who  has  treated 
many  cases  of  these  fevers  among  our  poor  tenantry,  to  observe  how  sud- 
den and  rapid  a  change  for  the  better  has  been  set-up,  after  the  removal 
of  the  patient  from  the  narrow  and  close  dormitory  to  the  common-room, 


212  REPORT  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


where  ventilation  can  be  secured.  This,  in  fact,  is  the  first  step  in  the 
treatment ;  nothing  else  should  be  done  until  this  change  has  been  effect- 
ed. And  the  effect  in  some  cases  which  I  have  observed,  has  seemed 
well-nigh  miraculous  ;  and  such  as  has  led  me  occasionally  to  refuse  to 
undertake  the  treatment  of  a  case  where  the  patient's  friends  would  not 
permit  the  removal  required.  It  is  like  food  and  drink  to  a  man  half 
famished ;  and  it  shows  how  ill  the  system  can  endure  any  additional 
blood-poisoning,  when  it  is  already  laboring  under  and  striving  to  throw 
off  a  disease  induced  by  toxaemia.  * 

Basements  and  Cellars. — But  a  small  proportion  of  the  tenant- 
houses  in  my  district  are  provided  with  a  basement  floor,  and  very  few  of 
the  tenantry  hVe  in  what  could  strictly  be  called  cellars.  A  few  striking 
cases,  especially  of  the  latter  class,  will  be  found  noted  from  time  to  time 
in  the  "  Record-book."  The  cases  that  do  exist  are  generally  as  bad  as 
they  well  can  be.  There  are  a  few  cellars  so  dark  that  one  cannot  see  to 
read  in  them,  unless  by  artificial  light,  except  for  a  few  hours  in  the  day, 
by  sitting  close  to  the  window  ;  and  there  are  many  basement  rooms  into 
whose  gloomy  recesses  not  a  single  direct  ray  from  the  sun  ever  shone. 
The  latter  tire  •)  £is  9>  rule,  by  half  their  depth  below  the  level  of  the  street. 
Dark  and  damp,  with  very  little  chance  for  the  circulation  of  air,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  imagine  a  human  being  more  completely  beyond  reach  of 
sanitary  provisions.  And  when  we  consider  that  four  large  families  often 
crowd  this  subterranean  floor,  no  words  are  needed  to  show  their  condi- 
tion deplorable.  That  a  generally-impaired  vitality  is  promoted  by  living 
in  this  unnatural  way — "  a  nameless,  ever  new  disease  " — there  can  be  no 
question  ;  that  these  people  will  be  especially  prone  to  whatever  form  of 
prevailing  sickness  may  be  about  in  the  community,  no  one  can  doubt ; 
but  whether  there  is  any  specific  cause  involved,  capable  of  producing 
definite  forms  of  disease,  is  more  difficult  to  determine.  Alison  and  Ban- 
delocque  ascribe  more  influence  in  the  production  of  scrofulous  diseases  to 
impure  and  confined  air,  than  to  an  impoverished  diet  and  improper  food. 
And  here  I  will  introduce  certain  statements  bearing  upon  this  general 
subject.  Says  Dr.  Musscy  (one  of  the  noblest,  as  he  was  in  the  days  of 
his  activity  one  of  the  most  deservedly  eminent  of  our  profession),  speak- 
ing of  ventilation,  etc. :  "  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  consumption  is,  as 
I  am  assured  by  some  of  my  friends,  far  more  common  among  the  Green 
Mountains  of  Vermont  than  it  was  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago,  before 

"  "  The  habitual  want  of  pure  air  exerts  an  unfavorable  influence  on  the  state  of  tho 
blood,  causing  imperfect  development  of  the  plasma  and  corpuscles,  which,  instead  of  con- 
tributing to  the  nourishment  of  the  tissues,  degenerates  into  scrofulous  and  tuberculous  mat- 
ter"—  Williams'  Principles  of  Medicine. 


EPIDEMICS  OF  FEVEK. — THEIR  CAUSES. 


213 


the  close  stove  was  used,  as  now,  for  the  open  fire?"  In  "Blackwood's 
Magazine,"  September,  1828,  may  be  found  the  following  valuable  state- 
ment :  "  The  deaths  of  new-born  infants,  between  the  ages  of  one  and 
fifteen  days,  which,  in  the  Dublin  Lying-in  Asylum,  in  the  course  of  four 
years,  amounted  to  2,944  out  of  7,650,  were  suddenly  reduced  to  269 
during  the  same  period,  after  the  new  system  of  ventilation  had  been 
adopted."  Dr.  Watson  refers  to  a  certain  epidemic  of  fever  in  Ireland 
where  "  the  mortality  among  the  patients  who  were  placed  in  open  sheds 
upon  straw  and  left  with  very  little  medical  attention,  or  even  any  great 
amount  of  attention  from  others,  was  very  small  indeed  ;  "  although  the 
epidemic,  under  certain  other  circumstances,  proved  very  fatal.  Dr. 
Christison's  testimony,  applied  to  the  subject  at  hand,  is  as  comprehensive 
as  it  is  explicit.  He  says  :  "  The  infection  of  continued  fever  is,  for  the 
most  part,  by  no  means  virulent.  But  it  is  nevertheless  certain,  so  far  as 
minute  observation  of  several  violent  epidemics  during  the  last  twenty 
years  can  determine  the  point,  that  moderate  precautions  will  render  the 
infectious  atmosphere  inert.  Cleanliness  and  ventilation  will  speedily  ex- 
tinguish any  epidemic."  Much  more  testimony  upon  this  and  collateral 
points  might  be  cited,  but  we  have  not  the  space — enough  has  been  al- 
ready presented  to  suggest  conclusions. 

An  epidemic  may  die  out  among  these  crowded  houses,  as  every  epi- 
demic must,  after  running  on  a  certain  length  of  time  ;  but  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  arrest  it  before  it  has  reached  its  natural  term.  This  fact  will 
be  further  illustrated  when  we  come  to  speak  of  prevailing  diseases. 
We  need  no  new  name  and  theory  from  army  experience*  to  account 
for  sickness,  and  pestilence,  and  death,  among  people  living  in  this  unnat- 
ural way.  Nature  is  lavish  of  air,  and  sunlight,  and  water — they  all  come 
from  her  hands  pure  and  unmixed  ;  and  man  must  receive  them  and  use 
them  in  the  same  bountiful  measure  in  which  they  are  bestowed,  if  he  would 
maintain  a  standard  of  perfect  health.  Several  illustrations  of  the  fore- 
going principles,  which  Ave  had  intended  to  introduce,  have  been  crowded 
out,  and  will  be  found  in  the  "  Record-book,"  f  under  the  head  of  Special 
Cases. 

Dkam-Shops,  etc. — The  number  of  drinking  saloons,  etc.,  in  the 
Eighteenth  District,  affords  a  ratio  of  one  to  every  twenty-two  dwelling- 
houses.  But  a  few  words  of  explanation  must  be  given  to  prevent  misap- 
prehension. If  every  house  contained  only  one  family,  and  there  were  still 
the  same  number  of  families  in  the  district  as  now,  taking  the  population 
of  the  tenant-houses  only  into  consideration,  we  should  have  an  approxi- 
mate ratio  of  one  liquor  store,  or  bar,  to  every  eighty-eight  families. 
*"  Crowd-poison."  f  Page  100. 


214  REPORT  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


When  we  add  to  this  the  population  of  a  few  hotels  and  boarding-houses, 
and  of  such  houses  as  contain  more  than  one  family,  although  not  board- 
ing-houses, we  should,  at  the  least  computation,  have  the  ratio  one  to  one 
hundred. 

I  have  included  lager  bier  saloons  under  this  head ;  for,  although 
bier  may  be  the  principal  drink  retailed  in  these  places,  yet  every  other  kind 
of  liquor  is  kept  on  hand  and  provided  when  called  for.  Apparently  quite 
insignificant,  and  yet  productive  of  great  evil,  and  probably  alluring 
more  generally  to  temptation  than  any  other  class  of  bars,  are  the  small 
whiskey-shops,  kept  on  the  first  floor  of  tenant-houses.  Here  the  vilest 
kinds  of  liquor  are  sold  cheap;  and  many  a  laboring  man  is  here 
tempted  to  part  with  his  earnings  who  would  never  be  decoyed  into 
the  larger  and  more  fashionable  saloons.  Still  another  class  are  the 
corner  liquor  stores,  which  make  such  display  with  their  freshly-painted 
hogsheads  at  the  doors  and  windows,  and  their  flashy  glasses  at  the  bar. 
These  stores  make  an  exterior  show  of  respectability  and  good  order, 
except  it  be  on  election-days,  on  which  occasion  certain  well-known 
political  purposes  which  they  subserve  secure  them  from  the  general 
order  which  requires  all  stores  of  this  sort  to  be  closed.  But  it  is  the 
smaller  stores  we  have  already  considered  which  swell  the  number, 
for  they  are  found  everywhere.  Obscure  as  they  are,  they  are  proba- 
bly more  concerned  in  riot,  and  misery,  and  crime,  than  larger  stores, 
where  vastly  greater  capital  is  invested. 

Stores,  Markets,  etc. — My  statistics  present  the  large  number  of 
308  stores  and  shops— exclusive,  of  course,  of  the  class  just  considered ; 
or  the  approximate  ratio  of  one  store  to  every  five  dwelling-houses. 
But  the  same  consideration  obtains  here,  as  regards  families,  as  in  the 
last  section.  More  than  half  the  number  given  would  more  properly 
be  called  shops  than  stores.  Such  are  very  numerous  throughout  the 
tenant-houses  ;  if  it  is  not,  indeed,  impeaching  the  honesty  of  the  word 
shop,  to  apply  it  to  these  nondescript  cabbage  and  potato  stores.  One 
side  of  the  house  through,  from  front  to  back,  is  all  that  is  required  to 
set-up  an  establishment  of  this  kind  ;  the  front  room  being  thrown  open 
for  a  store,  and  the  back  room  reserved  for  the  "  grocer's"  family. 
Some  there  are  even  who  have  only  one  room  for  both  these  purposes. 
A  potato-barrel,  emptied  through  the  day,  will  serve  one  of  the  smaller 
children  for  a  bed,  by  putting  a  blanket  in  it ;  and  the  storekeeper  sleeps 
under  the  counter  with  a  withered  cabbage  for  a  pillow.  All,  or  nearly 
all,  the  stores,  of  whatever  class,  in  this  district  are  for  retail  trade.  The 
greater  part  of  the  extent  of  Sixth  Avenue  from  Fourteenth  to  Eighteenth 
Street  is  thus  occupied ;  so  are  Third  and  First  Avenues,  a  part  of 


TRADES  AND  UNHEALTHFEL  OCCUPATIONS  NOT  CAUSES  OF  FEVER.  215 

Fourth  Avenue,  and  the  greater  part  of  Broadway.  Drug-stores  are 
found  in  about  the  usual  proportion.  There  are  a  few  quite  extensive 
meat-markets,  and  a  larger  number  of  small  ones.  There  is  not  a 
slaughter-house  in  the  entire  district. 

Factories. — There  are  but  few  very  extensive  works  of  this  order 
except  the  foundries,  etc.,  on  East  River,  and  the  gasworks.  I  have  not 
yet  been  able  to  investigate  the  subject  in  any  direction.  As  to  their  in- 
fluence upon  health,  I  have  not  learned  that  any  stated  forms  of  disease 
could  be  referred  to  works  of  any  kind  such  as  happen  to  be  within  the 
limits  of  the  Eighteenth  District.  The  employment  of  many  of  the  oper- 
atives is  such  as  to  subject  them  to  frequent  and  sudden  changes  of  tem- 
perature. This  is  the  case,  for  instance,  with  those  who  feed  the  furnaces 
in  the  gasworks.  Running  back  and  forth  from  the  fierce  heat  of  the  fires 
to  the  coal-yard  outside,  and  this  even  in  the  coldest  weather,  and  then  for 
a  time  inactive,  one  would  suppose  that  a  free  perspiration  thus  repeat- 
edly and  violently  checked  would  often  give  rise  to  serious  disease. 
Whether  any  degree  of  habituation  to  that  which,  with  one  unaccustomed 
to  the  work,  must  surely  cause  severe  and  serious  suffering,  could  be  ex- 
pected to  protect  men  hardened  to  it  from  the  consequences  of  such  ex- 
posure, I  do  not  know ;  I  can  only  say  that,  in  my  dispensary  practice, 
I  am  often  called  to  visit  the  employes  of  the  gasworks,  and  do  not  find 
them  laid  up  with  complaints  ascribable  to  checked  perspiration  more 
frequently  than  other  classes  of  laborers.  The  effect  upon  the  human  sys- 
tem of  breathing,  for  hours  together,  and  day  after  day,  air  heavily 
charged  with  carburetted  hydrogen,  is  also  an  interesting  question.  It  is 
a  familiar  fact,  that  but  a  small  percentage  of  illuminating  gas  in  the  atmos- 
phere is  sufficient  to  destroy  vegetable  life ;  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
ground  all  about  a  gasometer  is  as  barren  of  trees  and  verdure  as  a  desert 
of  sand.  These  are  subjects  which  I  hope  to  be  able  to  give  attention  to 
at  some  future  time. 

Prevailing  Diseases. — The  past  summer  and  autumn  have  been 
remarkably  healthy,  and  our  city  has  enjoyed  an  unusual  immunity  from 
prevailing  disease  and  epidemics.  There  has  been  considerable  rubeola 
scattered  through  the  district,  and  it  still  prevails  to  an  extent ;  but  it  has 
been  of  an  unusually  mild  type.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  district, 
however,  typhus  and  typhoid  fever  have  been  prevalent  for  more  than  a 
year  past.  There  is  no  section  of  the  tenant-house  district  where  isolated 
cases  have  not  appeared.  But  there  have  been  well-marked  centres  of 
the  disease,  places  where  it  has  remained  from  first  to  last,  where  its 
action  has  been  well-nigh  uninterrupted,  and  whence  its  infection  has 
been  carried  in  different  directions.    And  not  only  lias  the  disease  been 


216 


REPORT  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


persistent  in  certain  localities,  but  its  poison  has  been  remarkably  concen- 
trated there,  and  its  results  the  most  severe  and  fatal. 

There  is  no  one  of  these  centres  of  disease — these  "fever-nests" — 
ivhence  long  ago  the  disease  might  not  have  been  driven  out,  if  the  houses 
of  the  poor  were  properly  constructed,  or  if  a  suitable  sanitary  inspection 
were  enforced  and  maintained  by  a  police-power.  And  yet,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fearful  totality  of  sickness  and  death,  and  the  part  they  have 
played  in  keeping  up  the  epidemic,  these  houses  stand  to-day  as  they  did  a 
year  ago,  infected  and  infecting,  without  one  earnest  endeavor  on  the  part 
of  the  city  authorities — except  in  one  case,  where  a  capricious  and  abor- 
tive effort  was  put  forth  for  a  few  days — to  stay  the  progress  of  the  fever- 
poison.  I  have  said  that  the  disease  might  long  since  have  been  expelled 
from  the  localities  where  it  was  especially  rife,  and,  consequently,  a  large 
number  of  human  lives  might  have  been  saved.  And  not  only  this,  but 
the  epidemic  or  spreading  infection  itself  might  have  been  arrested  at  the 
same  time  ;  for,  after  the  first  important  step  had  been  taken  of  expelling 
the  disease  from  its  nidus,  it  would  not  have  continued,  except  in  scattered 
and  occasional  cases.  I  have  known  several  instances  where  the  disease 
was  contracted,  at  one  or  other  of  these  several  fever-nests,  by  a  person 
casually  visiting  there,  thence  carried  by  him  to  his  own  home,  another 
tenant-house,  more  less  distant,  which  had  been  free  from  the  disease  be- 
fore ;  and  in  every  case  the  fever  was  communicated  to  one  or  more  per- 
sons about  him,  and  a  new  nidus  of  disease  has  been  in  this  way  estab- 
lished. On  the  other  hand,  I  have  known  several  physicians  who  have 
contracted  the  disease  in  the  same  place  and  manner  ;  yet  in  no  case  was 
it  communicated  to  persons  about  them. 

The  places  where  these  fevers  have  principally  centred  have  been 
the  following :  On  Fifteenth  Street  east  of  Avenue  A ;  on  Seventeenth 
Street  between  First  Avenue  and  Avenue  A ;  and  on  Eighteenth  Street 
between  First  Avenue  and  Avenue  A. 

The  number  first  mentioned  includes  a  rear  house  also,  as  do  several 
of  the  numbers  in  that  neighborhood.  Other  houses  near  by  have  suf- 
fered more  or  less,  but  apparently  only  from  the  extension  of  the  dis- 
ease from  its  habitat  at  No.  25G.  Several  cases  occurring  here  have  been 
laid  before  the  association  through  "  special  reports  of  pestilential  diseases 
and  insalubrious  quarters,"  to  which  we  may  now  refer  for  all  particulars  as 
to  the  houses,  their  population,  crowding,  etc.,  etc.  For  details  of  the  epi- 
demic at  No.  241  Eighteenth  Street,  reference  maybe  had  also  to  these 
reports,  and  also  to  special  cases  in  the  record-book.  The  locality  men- 
tioned second  in  order,  No.  222  East  Seventeenth  Street,  requires  a  more 
extended  notice.    In  many  respects  it  will  servo  as  representative,  and 


DESCRIPTION  OF  A  NOTED  FEVER-NEST. 


217 


illustrate  the  disease  as  found  elsewhere  ;  at  the  same  time  that  these  are 
intrinsic  circumstances,  both  as  regards  the  class  and  condition  of  the 
tenantry,  and  the  extent, persistency,  and  virulence  of  the  disease,  which  call 
for  certain  details.  And  when  I  use  the  term  disease  in  this  connection, 
I  do  not  intend  to  commit  myself  to  any  theory  ;  both  typhus  and  typhoid 
fevers  have  existed  here  and  elsewhere,  and  in  the  multitude  of  cases  treated, 
and  the  relation  of  one  class  to  the  other,  many  important  facts  have  been 
observed  which  bear  upon  the  question  of  their  generic  identity  or  other- 
wise. But  this  is  not  the  occasion,  nor  have  I  the  space,  to  discuss  this 
question  ;  and  I  have  said  what  I  have  that  I  might  not  be  misunderstood 
in  the  use  of  the  word  disease  ;  which  is  only  for  convenience,  and  with 
reference  to  the  class  to  which  both  typhus  and  typhoid  belong — Continued 
Fevers. 

No.  222  East  Seventeenth 
Street  is  one  house  of  a  block 
of  houses,  seventeen  in  number, 
which  are  of  the  same  construc- 
tion throughout.  Each  house  has 
five  stories,  with  four  domiciles  on 
each  floor,  for  the  accommodation 
of  as  many  families.  This  diagram 
of  the  plan  of  these  apartments  for 
four  families  on  each  floor,  is  ap- 
plicable to  all  of  the  340  domiciles 
in  that  row  of  houses.  Yet  not- 
withstanding their  close  contiguity 
and  identity  of  construction,  the 
fever,  as  epidemic,  seems  to  have 
been  confined  to  No.  222  and  its 
neighbor  No.  220.  There  has 
hardly  been  a  fortnight  at  a  time 
during  the  past  year  when  one  or 
more  cases  of  fever  has  not  been 
in  incubation  or  progress  at  the 
former  number.  It  is  impossible 
to  ascertain  with  exactness  how  *~ 
many  cases  of  fever  have  occurred  here  ;  the  class  of  people  who  live  in 
this  way  are  continually  changing  their  residence,  and  it  is  often  the  case 
that  only  one  or  two  families  are  remaining  at  a  given  house  at  the  end 
of  a  year,  out  of  twenty  that  occupied  it  at  its  beginning.  Especially  is 
this  the  case  with  a  house  which  has  the  repute  of  the  one  we  are  consid- 


218  KEPORT  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

ering.  It  has  been  ascertained  that  35  eases  of  fever  have  been  sent  to 
the  hospital  from  No.  222  since  the  1st  of  January,  1864 ;  and  from  70 
to  100,  including  the  35,  have  been  attacked  with  this  fever  in  this  one 
house,  during  the  year.  About  the  middle  of  last  summer,  after  I  had 
repeatedly  reported  this  house  to  the  sanitary  police  as  a  pest-house,  action 
was  at  last  taken  by  an  officer  of  that  body,  and  the  house  was  shut  up — 
the  occupants  having  first  received  suitable  notice  and  having  removed 
elsewhere.  But  within  ten  days  of  that  time  the  doors  were  thrown  open 
again,  and,  in  many  instances,  the  same  old  families  came  flocking  back. 
So  far  as  I  could  learn,  no  effort  had  been  made  to  purify  or  disinfect 
the  house  during  the  short  period  of  its  closure  ;  hardly  a  room  was  swept 
or  a  wall  whitewashed.  From  that  day  to  this  its  occupants  have  been 
allowed  to  remain  there,  unmolested  by  the  police,  and  the  fever  has  con- 
tinued unabated.  Occasionally  an  apartment  becomes  vacant,  and  a 
family  from  a  distant  part  of  the  city,  or  from  the  country,  ignorant  of 
the  character  of  the  house,  moves  into  it.  In  every  case  of  this  kind 
that  has  come  to  my  knowledge,  the  fever  has  broken  out  in  such  a  family 
within  a  fortnight  after  their  arrival. 

At  the  next  door  to  the  house  mentioned  above,  viz.,  at  No.  220,  the 
disease  has  not  existed  so  constantly  as  it  has  at  No.  222  ;  and  although 
cases  have  been  more  or  less  frequent  here,  it  would  seem  that  they  were 
derived,  by  infection,  from  the  great  centre  of  disease  at  No.  222. 

All  epidemics  attack  the  immoral  and  degraded  classes  of  the  com- 
munity first ;  but  as  they  grow  in  power,  as  their  poison  becomes  con- 
centrated, they  overleap  all  barriers  physical  and  social,  unless,  indeed, 
in  the  case  where  they  spring  from  conditions  strictly  local.  As  with  the 
pestilence  which  Apollo  sent  upon  the  Greeks,  the  "feathered  fates"  fell 
upon  "dogs  and  mules"  first,  until,  rising  in  the  scale,  it  attacked  every 
rank  and  class,  and  "  the  goddess  mourned  her  heroes  slain." 

We  submit  the  following  considerations  meriting  attention  and  further 
inquiry.  "We  have  quoted  at  length  an  observation  of  Gen.  Viele,  under 
the  head  of  topography,  to  which  the  reader  is  ieferred.  By  looking  at 
the  map  which  accompanies  this  report,*  it  will  be  seen  that  a  stream  of 
water  formerly  rose  near  what  is  now  Ninth  Street,  and,  flowing  in  a 
northeasterly  direction,  emptied  into  the  East  River  at  the  exact  point 
where  this  house,  No.  222,  now  stands.  Why  this  locality  should  bo 
more  insalubrious  than  others  along  the  bed  of  the  former  stream,  I  do 
not  know,  unless  it  be  that  the  organic  debris,  collected  by  tho  stream  and 
swept  along  by  its  current,  would  quite  naturally'bo  deposited  in  large 
accumulation  at  this  place.    Moreover,  it  is  a  fact  well  known  of  mala* 

*  Sec  page  207. 


SOCIAL  ASPECTS  OF  INSALUBRIOUS  QUARTERS.  219 


rious  regions  in  the  South,  that  those  marshes  are  the  most  pestilential 
where  fresh  and  salt  waters  mingle. 

The  least  that  can  he  done — and  something  should  be  done  right  away 
— would  be  to  remove  all  families  from  the  house,  to  have  it  thoroughly 
cleansed  and  disinfected  and  kept  vacant  (not  for  a  week  or  ten  days  but 
for)  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  ensure  the  entire  eradication  of  all  in- 
fection. If  the  ground  itself  on  which  the  house  is  built  be  at  fault,  as 
there  seems  reason  to  apprehend  it  may  be,  then  other  and  more  radical 
measures  will  be  necessary. 

Remarks. — The  most  populous  parts  of  our  city  are  inhabited  by  those 
who  are  crowded  for  room.  Grasping  landlords  let  out  to  the  families  of 
the  poor  a  small  modicum  of  God's  free  air  and  sunlight,  hardly  sufficient 
for  a  single  individual.  Every  expenditure  of  money,  which  the  law  does 
not  force  them  to,  is  refused  ;  and  blinds  half  swung  and  ready  to  fall  and 
crush  with  the  first  strong  wind  ;  doors  long  off  their  hinges,  which  open 
and  shut  by  being  taken  up  bodily  and  put  out  of  or  in  the  way ;  chim- 
neys as  apt  to  conduct  the  smoke  into  the  room  as  out  of  it ;  stagnant, 
seething,  overflowing  privies,  left  uncleansed  through  the  hot  months  of 
summer,  though  pestilence  itself  should  breed  from  them ;  hydrants  out 
of  repair,  and  flooding  sink  and  entry  ;  stairs  which  shake  and  quiver  with 
every  step  as  you  ascend  them  ;  and  all  this  day  after  day,  month  after 
month,  year  in  and  year  out,  now  a  little  better,  and  now  worse  again. 
Miserere  domus  labentis !  As  you  pass  the  street  or  enter  the  outside 
door,  if  your  eyes  are  not  too  much  engaged,  you  are  struck  with  a  babel 
of  sound.  For  20  families  live  under  this  roof;  there  are,  perhaps,  50 
children  of  different  ages  here ;  a  drunken  fight,  perhaps,  is  going  on  in 
one  of  the  hall-ways,  a  quarrel  between  women  quite  likely ;  and  cries, 
and  shrieks,  and  oaths,  and  threats,  the  screams  and  shouts  of  uncounted 
children  fill  the  air  at  once.  For  wherever  the  fault  may  be,  one  cannot 
expect  that  the  most  sober  and  industrious  of  our  poor  will  live  in  such  a 
place  as  this.  Poverty  alone  can  never  condemn  a  man  to  such  house  as 
this  is.  A  family  may  be  ever  so  poor,  and  yet  their  door  may  be  on  its 
hinges,  and  their  room  be  swept.  What  a  place  to  live  in  !  to  be  sick  in  ! 
to  die  in  !  and  yet  a  large  part  of  our  city  population  live  and  die  in  just 
this  way.  Do  the  intelligent  and  wealthy  of  our  city  know  this  ?  Do 
they,  who  arc  ever  ready  to  assist  in  a  good  deed  and  to  give  to  a  good 
cause,  who  use  as  stewards  the  abundant  wealth  which  God  has  given 
them — do  such  realize  the  want,  and  squalor,  and  immorality  which  exist 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  their  own  happy  homes? 

Concentration  is  the  great  law  of  our  modern  civilization  ;  never  was  it 
so  active  and  so  marked  as  now.    Men  leave  their  scattered  homes  in  the 


220  EEPOET  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  SANTTAEY  DISTRICT. 


country  and  become  near  neighbors  in  town  ;  houses  go  up  side  by  side, 
and  blocks  of  houses,  and  every  inch  of  ground  is  economized.  The 
boundaries  of  the  city  itself  become  extended,  and  every  year  shows  an 
increase.  Men  prosper  in  this  way  ;  they  advance  their  own  interests  and 
the  interests  of  others.  They  have  a  broader  field  for  usefulness ;  they 
have  more  abundant  means  to  do  good  with.  Even  though  they  strive  for 
their  own  selfish  ends,  though  they  seek  only.to  bless  themselves,  they 
must  bless  others  in  spite  of  themselves  ;  for  they  keep  money  in  circu- 
lation and  large  classes  of  men  employed.  But  what  can  be  said  of  all 
this  if  the  most  populous  parts  of  a  city  are  the  most  degraded,  the  most 
immoral,  the  most  thriftless  and  turbulent  ?  Surely  such  a  city  is  grow- 
ing old  and  in  its  decay  ;  or  it  is  growing  too  fast  in  some  of  its  parts,  and 
such  parts  need  attention.  The  welfare  of  every  man  is  concerned  in 
this  ;  it  does  not  appeal  to  the  benevolent  alone.  Let  the  wealthy  resident 
upon  Fifth  Avenue  walk  along  Seventeenth  Street  from  First  Avenue  to 
the  East  River,  and  examine  the  houses  and  look  at  their  population  as  he 
pursues  his  way  ;  and  if  he  can  read  certain  results  in  their  causes,  he  will 
see  enough  to  diminish  his  sense  of  security  in  his  own  house. 

This  condition  of  things  appeals,  therefore,  to  every  man  who  loves 
his  own  life,  who  loves  his  family,  and  who  would  retain  the  wealth  he 
has  accumulated.  It  is  his  interest  to  do  every  thing  he  can  to  remedy  it, 
if  he  never  gave  a  dollar  before  to  any  charity,  let  him  give  of  his 
influence  and  substance  to  maintain  effectual  agencies  and  works  of  sani- 
tary improvement,  and  the  prevention  of  popular  diseases,  and  he  will  by 
such  means  maintain  his  own  peace  and  security. 

Remedial  Measures. — The  evils  to  which  we  have  referred,  can  be 
remedied.  The  same  concerted  and  persistent  action,  which  has  so  long 
maintained  them  in  an  opposite  direction,  can  overthrow  them.  No  man 
has  moral  right  to  build  a  house,  leaving  out  all  the  modern  appliances 
and  conveniences,  even  to  ventilation,  because  they  cost  a  little  money, 
and  then  to  crowd  twenty  families  into  it.  Yet  there  arc  hundreds  of 
such  houses  in  our  city,  and  many  more  are  being  built.  No  landlord 
has  a  right  to  refuse  all  the  most  obvious  and  necessary  repairs  to  a  house, 
until  it  is  in  such  a  state  of  ruin  that  nails  and  spikes  must  be  driven  in  to 
keep  it  together.  Nor  has  he  a  right  to  withhold  all  sanitary  care  and 
inspection  until  the  contents  of  the  vaults  are  more  than  even  with  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  and  have  become  a  constant  nuisance  and  cause  of 
disease  and  death.  But  it  may  be  said  the  tenants  can  and  should  do  all 
this  for  their  own  comfort,  even  if  the  laudlord  refuse.  Yet,  as  a  rule, 
they  do  not,  and  they  will  not.  It  is  a  question  to  what  extent  those  com- 
pelled to  live  in  this  way  are  responsible  for  their  own  moral  status.  Most 


HOW  THE  POOR  BECOME  DKOTKAKDS. 


221 


truly  says  a  modern  writer  :  "  Space,  a  free  atmosphere,  and  cleanliness, 
have  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  possibilities  of  human  virtue."  A  few 
families  of 

"  rough,  rug-headed  kernes, 

Who  live  like  venom,  where  no  venom  else, 
But  only  they,  have  privilege  to  live," 

will  infect  a  whole  neighborhood.  The  family  of  a  better  class,  who  live 
with  only  a  thin  partition  separating  them,  and  whose  doors  intercommu- 
nicate, will,  in  time,  become  more  or  less  assimilated,  at  least  their  chil- 
dren will.  Moreover,  it  is  an  accepted  fact  that  to  live  for  a  long  time 
deprived  of  pure  air  and  sunlight,  will  not  only  depress  a  man  physical- 
ly and  mentally,  but  will  actually  demoralize  him.  The  atmosphere  is 
precisely  adapted,  through  its  properties  and  constituents,  to  the  wants  of 
the  beings  designed  to  breathe  it.  Through  its  oxygen,  and  perhaps  its 
ozone,  it  imparts  life  and  energy  and  vigor  to  animals  and  plants.  If 
certain  equivalents  of  its  oxygen  be  taken  away,  and  carbonic  acid  be 
substituted,  we  have  the  opposite  in  different  degrees,  from  loss  of  vigor, 
and  courage,  and  spirits,  to  absolute  death.  There  can  be  no  question 
that  peculiar  effects  follow  long  habituation  to  impure  air  ;  not  so  striking, 
perhaps,  as  those  one  experiences  during  its  temporary  respiration,  but 
still  none  the  less  deplorable  and  formidable.  It  is  like  the  subtle,  insid- 
ious action  of  lead  upon  the  human  system,  which  is  so  slow  in  setting  up 
its  terrible  power  that  the  Ancients  are  said  for  that  reason  to  have 
compared  the  metal  to  the  god  of  time,  and  to  have  given  it  the  name  of 
Saturn.  A  man  gradually  loses  ambition  and  hope  ;  concern  for  the  well- 
being  of  himself  and  his  family,  by  slow  degrees,  lose  their  hold  upon 
him.  He  becomes  what  cannot  be  better  expressed  than  by  the  term  nil 
admirari.  Loss  of  physical  vigor  attends  this  corresponding  condition  of 
the  mind,  until  at  length  lassitude  and  depression  of  spirits  and  constant 
ennui  get  such  control  over  him  that  no  power  or  effort  of  the  will  can 
shake  them  off.  With  this  decline  of  energy  and  vigor,  both  of  mind  and 
body,  is  set  up  an  instinctive  yearning  for  something  which  will  give  a 
temporary  respite  to  the  dragging  weariness  of  life. .  Hence  we  find  that 
children  even,  who  are  brought  up  without  the  stimulating  influence  of 
pure  air  and  sunlight,  will  learn  to  cry  for  tea  and  coffee  before  they  learn 
to  talk  ;  and  they  will  refuse  the  draught  unless  it  be  strong.  One  would 
hardly  credit  unless  he  has  visited  condiderably  among  the  tenant-house 
population,  how  general  this  habit  is  among  the  youngest  children.  As 
they  grow  older,  they  acquire  the  appetite  of  their  parents  for  alcoholic 
stimulants ;  and  we  need  not  go  further  to  account  for  any  extreme  of 
immorality  and  want. 


222 


EEPOKT  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Many  and  the  most  important  of  the  evils  that  have  heen  described  in 
this  report  cluster  around  that  gigantic  system  of  evils — the  tenant-house 
system.  Let  no  one  refuse  to  assist  the  poor  victims  of  these  wrongs, 
because  they  do  so  little  to  help  themselves — because  they  are  idle,  and 
dissolute,  and  indolent.  "We  have  labored  to  show  that  they  are  far  from 
being  so  culpable  for  this,  as  might  at  first  sight  appear  ;  and  as  they  are 
at  present,  they  are  well-nigh  helpless  without  the  assistance  of  a  strong 
arm  from  without.  There  is  little  hope  of  permanent  good  from  temper- 
ance reform,  among  the  laboring  classes  of  the  city,  so  long  as  they  arc 
obliged  to  live  in  tenant-houses  constructed  as  at  present.  Men  never 
will  confine  their  appetite  for  drink  to  water  so  long  as  they  cannot  have 
a  sufficiency  of  pure  air.  Of  course  any  effort  at  reform,  in  this  direc- 
tion will  be  met  with  serious  opposition.  The  same  spirit  is  rife  in  our 
own  day  and  in  our  city  which  prevailed  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  when 
the  whole  country  came  out  and  begged  Him  to  depart  out  of  their  coasts, 
because  His  gracious  exercise  of  divine  power  had  lost  to  them  a  herd  of 
swine;  unmindful  that  the  same  miracle  had  delivered  a  human  being 
from  the  dominion  of  devils  and  restored  him  to  his  right  mind.  The 
same  kind  of  men  live  in  our  city,  if  indeed  they  are  not  their  direct  pos- 
terity, as  those  who  beat  Paul  and  Silas  in  the  market-place,  because  "  they 
saw  the  hope  of  their  gains  was  gone  I " 


Statistical  Recapitulation. 

Total  number  of  dwelling-houses,           .       .       .  1,733 

(a)  "         private  residences,    ....  1,233 

(b)  "         tenant-houses,       ....  467 

(c)  "  frame  houses,  .....  17 
(<#)       "         rear  houses,         .       .       .       .  16 

Number  of  vacant  lots,   91 

"        public  stables,     .....  12 

"        private    u   53 

"        church  edifices,           ....  14 

"        school      "   4 

u         liquor  stores,  etc.,        ....  77 

"        stores,  shops,  etc.,           ....  308 


EEPOET 


OP  THE 

NINETEENTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


J.  R.  MANSFIELD,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — The  Nineteenth  District  comprises  the  northern  half  of 
the  Eighteenth  Ward.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  East  Twenty-sixth 
Street,  east  by  the  East  River,  south  by  East  Twentieth  Street,  and  west  by 
the  Sixth  Avenue. 

Topography. — Before  the  grading  of  this  district,  about  one-half  con- 
sisted of  a  low  marshy  soil,  containing  a  few  small  ponds,  and  a  small 
stream  of  water.  This  stream  crossed  Twenty-sixth  Street  at  or  near 
Madison  Avenue,  passed  down  to  Twentieth  Street,  where  it  crossed  at 
a  short  distance  below  Fourth  Avenue  ;  but  now  no  trace  of  the  channel 
is  visible,  it  having  been  filled  with  gravel  or  rubbish.  The  low  margin  of 
the  East  River  has  also  been  filled  in,  mostly  by  street  sweepings,  ashes, 
etc. ;  and  many  tenant-houses  and  places  of  business  have  been  erected, 
and  now  stand  upon  the  land  composed  of  such  material  as  street  scav- 
engers usually  collect.  This  kind  of  soil  is  very  objectionable,  because 
the  decay  of  vegetable  matter  is  a  source  of  disease  ;  and  although  no  case 
may  have  been  directly  traced  to  this  cause,  yet  it  has,  no  doubt,  greatly 
assisted  in  its  propagation. 

Drainage  and  Sewerage. — The  natural  drainage  of  some  parts  of 
the  eastern  portion  of  this  district  is  not  good,  the  streets  being  so  level 
that,  after  a  heavy  rain,  water  stands  in  pools  for  several  days  ;  and  as 
garbage  is  being  continually  thrown  upon  the  streets,  and  allowed  to  de- 
cay, the  atmosphere  becomes  impregnated  with  poisonous  exhalations, 
endangering  the  health  and  lives  of  the  people  inhabiting  the  surrounding 
buildings. 

There  are  sewers  in  all  the  streets  and  avenues,  but  some  of  them  are 


224  REPORT  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


poorly  constructed.  The  effluvia  from  the  opening  of  some  of  the  sewers 
at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  is  often  exceedingly  offensive ;  and,  in  one 
instance,  in  the  cellar  of  a  house  on  the  east  side  of  Avenue  A,  there  was 
at  the  time  of  my  visit  more  than  a  foot  of  water,  which  had  escaped 
through  the  waste-pipe  from  the  sinks  above.  I  was  informed  that  this 
cellar  had  not  been  dry  for  several  months  ;  and  it  was  not  only  very  of- 
fensive, but  also  a  source  of  disease.  There  was  a  woman  sick  with 
typhoid  fever  at  this  time  in  the  house.  There  are  also  four  double  tenant- 
houses,  situated  on  Twenty-first  Street  below  First  Avenue,  in  which  fever 
and  other  diseases  are  constantly  found.  Two  of  these  buildings  have  no 
cellars,  and  water  collects  and  stands  in  pools  under  them  for  weeks,  and 
sometimes  months,  making  them  exceedingly  damp  and  unhealthy.  They 
are  all  poorly  ventilated,  dirty,  and  crowded  with  the  lowest  class  of 
tenants,  many  of  whom,  in  removing  to  other  localities,  carry  with  them 
diseases  and  causes  of  disease,  liable  to  be  communicated  to  persons  oc- 
cupying healthy  dwellings. 

Most  of  the  streets  are  paved  with  cobbles,  which  form  receptacles  for 
vegetable  matter  that  is  constantly  decomposing,  and  filling  the  air  with  a 
miasm  which  is  very  injurious  to  health. 

Sickness  and  its  Chief  Causes  among  the  Poor. — During  the  past  year 
C,783  new  patients  have  applied  to  the  Demilt  Dispensary  for  treatment, 
from  this  district ;  of  which  1,422  received  treatment  at  their  dwellings  ; 
making  an  average  of  over  565  cases  taken  sick  in  each  month,  or  nearly 
19  for  each  day.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  these  cases  of  sickness  is  due 
to  overcrowding,  faulty  house  drainage,  and  the  neglect  of  precautions 
against  infectious  diseases  and  their  local  causes. 

Tenant-Houses. — The  number  of  squares  in  this  district  is  52,  con- 
taining 1,703  houses;  of  these,  400  are  tenant-houses,  and  although  sev- 
eral others  may  not  properly  be  classed  with  the  private  residences,  never- 
theless the  manner  in  which  the  tenants  and  their  landlords  disregard  the 
rules  of  health  with  respect  to  cleanliness,  ventilation,  and  proper  care 
of  these  buildings  and  their  surroundings,  has  caused  me  to  place  them 
with  the  list  of  private  dwellings.  There  are  64  rear  buildings,  which, 
with  few  exceptions,  are  tenant-houses.  The  sanitary  condition  of  a  ma- 
jority of  these  buildings  is  very  bad,  inasmuch  as  they  are  so  hemmed  in 
by  other  buildings  as  to  prevent  a  free  circulation  of  air  about  them,  and 
are  usually  crowded  with  a  very  low  class  of  tenants,  on  account  of  tho 
cheapness  of  the  rent. 

There  arc  39  vacant  lots  in  this  district,  many  of  which  arc  used  for 
business  purposes  ;  and  on  some  of  them  shanties  have  been  built,  in  which 
horses  and  other  animals  arc  kept,  and  around  which,  from  their  peculiar 


WANT  OF  INTELLIGENCE  AND  A  SANITAKT  POLICE. 


225 


situation,  the  children  of  the  neighborhood  are  in  the  habit  of  committing 
gross  nuisances. 

Courts  and  Alleys. — There  are  also  58  courts  and  alleys,  60  fac- 
tories, 335  stores  and  markets,  and  116  places  where  liquor  is  sold — not 
including  grocery  stores ! 

Slaughter-Pens. — There  are  seven  slaughter-houses  in  this  district, 
and  located  east  of  Third  Avenue  ;  all  of  which  are  very  offensive,  and 
they  are  exceedingly  filthy.  If  this  source  of  annoyance  and  disease 
could  be  removed  beyond  the  city  limits,  not  only  a  great  charity  would 
be  conferred  upon  the  poor  people  residing  in  that  neighborhood,  but  their 
health  and  sanitary  condition  Would  be  greatly  improved. 

Stables  and  their  Influence.— Situated  in  this  district  are  the 
well-known  Bull's  Head  stables,  occupying  nearly  all  the  south  side,  and 
a  part  of  the  north  side  of  Twenty-fourth  Street,  between  Lexington  and 
Second  Avenues.  They  are  35  in  number,  containing  1,000  stalls,  occu- 
pied, at  the  time  of  my  inspection,  by  302  horses,  which  is  a  smaller  num- 
ber than  is  usual  for  them.  These  stables  may  have  aggravated  the 
diphtheria  which  has  been  prevalent  in  their  vicinity  for  a  few  months 
past.  One  of  these  cases  of  diphtheria  was  that  of  a  young  and  very 
able  physician,  which  terminated  fatally  on  the  seventh  day  of  his  illness. 

The  whole  number  of  stables  in  my  district,  including  the  Bull's  Head 
stables,  located  in  this  district,  is  176,  containing,  at  the  time  of  in- 
spection, 613  horses.  I  was  much  surprised  to  learn  that  whenever  any 
of  these  animals  are  sick,  they  are  taken  into  basement  stalls  for  treatment. 
This  prevents  them  from  receiving  the  better  sanitary  influences  of  the 
upper  part  of  the  building,  which  admits  of  a  free  circulation  of  air. 

My  attention  has  been  called  to  the  public  school-house  which  is  now 
building  on  Twenty-third  Street  between  Second  and  Third  Avenues. 
It  is  in  conjunction  with  a  row  of  stables,  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  two  slaughter-houses ;  the  cellar  is  also  very  damp,  and  emits  a  very 
disagreeable  odor,  the  soil  having  been  saturated  with  filthy  material 
previous  to  its  present  use.  Everywhere  in  the  Nineteenth  District  is 
seen  the  necessity  for  the  strong  arm  of  an  intelligent  sanitary  police,  and 
more  especially  is  there  an  urgent  demand  for  practicable  and  effectual 
methods  of  improving  the  ventilation  and  domestic  comfort  of  the  ordina- 
ry tenant-houses  that  are  already  so  numerous,  and  of  thoroughly  reform- 
ing the  plans  of  all  that  may  hereafter  be  erected. 


EEPOET 


OP  THE 

TWENTIETH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


E.    H.   JANES,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — The  Twentieth  District  comprises  the  southern  half  of  the 
Twentieth  Ward,  and  is  bounded  north  by  Thirty-third  Street,  east  by  Sixth 
Avenue,  south  by  Twenty-sixth  Street,  and  ivest  by  the  Hudson  River. 

Remark. — In  presenting  this  final  report,  I  am  aware  that  it  is  not  in 
my  power  to  astonish  you  with  facts  of  so  startling  a  nature  as  will  be  given 
by  many  of  my  colaborers  in  the  more  insalubrious  districts  ;  though  I  shall 
be  able  to  show  you  that,  witli  all  its  natural  advantages  for  health  and 
salubrity,  one  of  the  up-town  wards  is,  in  many  respects,  lamentably  de- 
ficient in  its  sanitary  regulations,  through  the  combined  influence  of  the  cu- 
pidity of  landlords,  the  ignorance  and  negligence  of  tenants,  and  the  mis- 
management and  corruption  of  those  in  official  positions.  I  am  confident 
that  there  is  no  section  of  the  city  where  the  natural  topography,  climate, 
soil,  and  drainage,  are  more  conducive  to  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  than 
in  this  district ;  and  I  might  add,  that  though  I  have  found  but  few  fever- 
nests,  and  not  a  very  great  amount  of  preventable  disease,  yet  where  these 
have  occurred  I  have  generally  been  able  to  trace  them  directly  to  the 
neglect  of  sanitary  measures,  either  about  the  premises  or  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. I  am,  therefore,  persuaded  that  if  the  proper  sanitary  regulations 
were  instituted,  or  even  if  the  existing  laws  were  faithfully  executed,  much 
suffering  might  be  avoided,  and  the  bills  of  mortality  greatly  reduced.  In 
reporting  more  fully  upon  my  district,  I  shall  first  call  your  attention  to 
its  original  topography,  geology,  soil,  natural  drainage,  etc.,  and  after- 
wards describe  its  present  sanitary  condition. 

Original  Topography. — The  ground  was  originally  dry  and  some- 


MEDICAL  TOPOGEAPHY  OF  THE  DISTEICT. 


227 


what  uneven,  the  principal  inclination  being  to  the  south  and  west. 
The  highest  point  was  on  Thirty-third  Street,  about  midway  between 
Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues,  where  the  elevation  was  55  feet  above  high 
water.  On  this  line  the  ground  gradually  descended  to  Twenty-sixth 
Street,  where  the  point  of  elevation  was  30  feet.  The  surface  also  in- 
clined to  the  east  as  far  as  Eighth  Avenue,  the  line  of  which  was,  and 
still  is,  somewhat  below  the  level  of  the  avenues  on  either  side.  For  this 
reason  the  main  sewer  is  through  Eighth  Avenue,  conducting  the  contents 
of  the  street  sewers  on  either  side  into  the  main  sewer  in  Twenty-third 
Street,  and  thence  to  the  river.  East  of  the  Eighth  Avenue  the  surface 
ascended  as  far  as  Sixth  Avenue,  where  the  elevation  was  about  42  feet. 
On  Thirty-third  Street  near  Tenth  Avenue,  there  was  also  a  rocky  eleva- 
tion of  about  50  feet  above  high  water.  This  was  the  general  character 
of  the  surface,  though  there  were  other  slight  elevations  and  depressions 
in  various  portions  of  the  district. 

Geology. — The  geological  formation  consists  principally  of  micaceous 
gneiss,  traversed  occasionally  by  veins  of  granite  and  quartz  ;  the  former 
varying  in  width  from  ten  to  fifty  feet,  the  latter  from  one  to  twelve 
inches,  extremely  tortuous,  passing  in  every  direction.  The  granite  is 
rather  coarse,  though  improving  in  quality  the  further  north  we  go.  In 
the  northwestern  portion  of  the  district  it  is  for  a  short  distance  the  pre- 
vailing rock,  and  is  of  a  fair  quality  for  building  purposes.  Outcroppings 
of  gneiss,  or  gneiss  and  granite,  were  originally  seen  on  Sixth  Avenue 
near  Twenty-ninth  Street,  at  the  corner  of  Thirty-second  Street  and  Sev- 
enth Avenue,  on  Twenty-sixth  Street  between  Seventh  and  Eighth  Ave- 
nues, a  little  north  of  Twenty-Seventh  Street  near  Eighth  Avenue,  on 
Ninth  Avenue  between  Twenty-ninth  and  Thirty-first  Streets,  throughout 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  space  bounded  by  Thirty-third  Street,  Ninth 
Avenue,  Twenty-ninth  Street,  and  Tenth  Avenue,  and  on  Thirty-third 
Street  about  midway  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  Avenues.  These  out- 
croppings showed  the  prevailing  strike  to  be  either  north  and  south,  or 
northwest  and  southeast,  the  dip  varying  from  80  to  90  degrees.  In  one 
or  two  instances  the  strike  inclined  to  the  northeast,  which  is,  I  believe, 
the  prevailing  direction  throughout  the  island.  In  some  of  the  vacant  and 
partially-excavated  lots  the  gneiss  appears  to  have  undergone  gradual  disin- 
tegration, after  having  been  exposed  for  a  long  time  to  the  atmosphere  ; 
this  is  said  to  be  in  consequence  of  the  very  small  proportion  of  quartz 
and  feldspar,  and  the  presence  of  sulphuret  of  iron,  the  decomposition  of 
which  yielding  sulphate  and  oxide  of  iron,  promotes  the  disintegration  of 
the  rock,  and  gives  it  the  iron  rust  color  so  frequently  seen.  In  addition 
to  what  lias  been  already  described,  we  have  traces  of  horncblend  gneiss, 


228 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


pebbles  of  quartz,  fragments  of  feldspar,  and  sandstone,  all  of  which  are 
occasionally  seen  in  many  of  the  vacant  lots  throughout  the  district. 

The  soil  may  be  described  as  a  somewhat  dry  sandy  loam,  slightly 
intermixed  in  some  places  with  gravel.  Near  the  corner  of  Thirtieth 
Street  and  Eighth  Avenue  commenced  what  was  called  Primrose  Hill, 
and  afterwards  Strawberry  Hill.  Here  was  found  gravel  and  sand  in 
abundance,  the  latter  of  a  fine  quality,  and  was  much  used  for  building 
purposes.  The  only  made  or  reclaimed  ground  in  the  district  is  about 
one-half  of  that  portion  west  of  Tenth  Avenue,  the  original  water-line  ex- 
tending across  this  section  nearly  in  a  diagonal  direction,  crossing  Thirty- 
third  Street  at  Eleventh  Avenue.  The  material  used  for  the  purpose  of 
"  filling  in"  this  portion  of  the  district,  I  am  told,  comprises  every  variety 
of  rubbish,  the  refuse  from  every  branch  of  industry,  street  sweepings, 
ashes,  garbage,  etc.  In  grading  the  district,  Eighth  Avenue  required 
elevating,  for  which  good  material  was  used  taken  from  some  of  the 
higher  elevations. 

These  primitive  advantages  of  good  natural  drainage  and  of  a  com- 
paratively undisturbed  natural  grading,  considered  in  connection  with  all 
the  geological  peculiarities  of  the  district,  together  constitute  most  im- 
portant conditions  that  favor  the  natural  salubrity  of  this  locality.  This 
fact  is  worthy  of  special  remark,  as  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
this  district  is  destined  speedily  to  become  very  densely  populated  by  the 
laboring  classes,  and  to  be  perpetually  occupied  by  them.  Man,  not 
Nature,  will  be  responsible  for  any  general  conditions  of  insalubrity  here. 

Water-Courses. — The  principal  natural  water-course,  taking  its 
origin  about  two  hundred  feet  east  of  Eighth  Avenue,  and  about  midway 
between  Thirtieth  and  Thirty-first  Streets,  flowed  southwest  as  far  as  the 
corner  of  Eighth  Avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  Street,  thence  west  along 
Twenty-sixth  Street  as  far  as  Ninth  Avenue,  thence  northwest,  crossing 
Twenty-seventh  and  Twenty-eighth  Streets,  emptying  into  the  Hudson 
River  at  Twenty-ninth  Street.  A  small  shallow  pond  stood  on  Seventh 
Avenue,  between  Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty-seventh  Streets,  from  which 
issued  a  small  stream  which,  flowing  west,  emptied  into  the  stream  before 
mentioned,  near  what  is  now  the  corner  of  Twenty-seventh  Street  and 
Eighth  Avenue.  Two  small  streams,  one  from  the  north,  the  other  from 
the  south,  united  at  Twenty-eighth  Street  about  200  feet  cast  of  Seventh 
Avenue,  and  flowing  west,  emptied  into  the  stream  first  described,  at  n 
point  about  75  feet  north  of  Twenty-eighth  Street,  and  200  feet  cast  of 
Eighth  Avenue.    These  constituted  the  natural  drainage  of  the  district. 

Present  Topography. — In  grading  the  streets  and  avenues,  the  orig- 
inal inequalities  of  surface  have  been  generally  followed,  as  the  annexed 
table  giving  the  present  level  at  the  various  corners  will  show : 


EVIDENCE  OF  NATURAL  SALUBRITY  PRESENTED.  229 


Table  showing  the  present  elevation  above  high-water  in  feet  and  inches  at 
the  different  street  corners  in  the  Twentieth  Sanitary  District. 


STREETS. 

Sixth  Av. 

Seventh  Av. 

Eighth  Av. 

Ninth.  Av. 

Tenth  Av. 

EleventhAv. 

West  Thirty-Third,  

42.4" 

36.6" 

30.8" 

43.6" 

29.7" 

11.0" 

41.6 

35.6 

29.4 

42.0 

19.6 

11.10 

"  Thirty-First,  

39.8 

34.4 

28.0 

38.1 

15.6 

10.4 

37.11 

33.0 

26.8 

34.0 

15.0 

9.9 

"    Twenty- Ninth,  

41.6 

31.10 

25.4 

28.1 

13.3 

8.11 

"  Twenty-Eighth  

38.11 

30.1 

24.4 

22.0 

12.3 

8.1 

"    Twenty-Seventh,  . . . 

37.9 

29.9 

22.8 

20.3 

11.2 

7.5 

37.0 

30.4 

21.4 

19.9 

10.9 

Not  as- 
certained . 

By  consulting  the  above  table,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  most  elevated 
corner  is  that  of  Ninth  Avenue  and  Thirty-third  Street  (the  highest 
point  is  some  distance  east  of  Ninth  Avenue) ,  and  the  lowest  point  prob- 
ably the  corner  of  Eleventh  Avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  Street.  It  will 
also  be  seen  that  above  Twenty-eighth  Street  the  grade  of  Eighth  Avenue 
is  lower  than  that  of  the  adjacent  avenues  on  either  side.  The  water- 
courses that  originally  drained  this  district  have  been  "  filled  in,"  and  drain- 
age effected  by  means  of  sewers. 

From  this  brief  account  of  the  topography  of  the  Twentieth  District,  its 
dry  soil,  its  slightly  uneven  surface — the  principal  inclinations  being  such 
as  to  not  only  favor  good  natural  drainage,  but  to  secure  also  the  full  ef- 
fects of  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun — it  will  be  seen  that,  in  a  sanitary  point 
of  view,  the  effects  of  this  topographical  condition  could  have  no  other  in- 
fluence than  one  conducive  to  the  public  health  ;  and  not  until  the  natural 
drainage  was  obstructed,  and  artificial  drainage  substituted,  was  the  first 
step  taken  in  the  contrary  direction. 

Streets  and  Avenues. — The  direction  of  the  avenues  is  said  to  be 
nortli  and  south,  and  that  of  the  streets  east  and  west.  To  speak  more 
correctly,  however,  the  avenues  run  north  33°  40'  east,  the  streets  cross- 
ing at  right  angles.  The  former  are  100,  the  latter  50  feet  in  width. 
The  Sixth,  Eighth,  and  Ninth  Avenues,  together  with  the  portions  of 
Thirty-first  and  Thirty-second  Streets  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  Avenues, 
are  paved  with  the  Belgian  pavement,  trap-rock  being  used  for  that  pur- 
pore.  This  pavement  is  even,  appears  well  laid,  and  wherever  it  is  seen 
the  streets  are  kept  in  a  very  fair  condition.  Throughout  the  remaining 
portions  of  the  district  the  old-fashioned  cobble-stone  pavement  is  still 
in  use,  and  full  of  irregularities  of  surface  ;  some  of  the  depressions  be- 
ing quite  deep  and  several  feet  in  extent,  allowing  the  collection  of  pools 
of  water  at  every  rain,  which  instead  of  running  off  into  the  sewer,  remain 


230 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


to  increase  the  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  by  their  gradual  evaporation, 
and  thus  establish  a  predisposing  cause  of  malarial  fevers. 

In  many  portions  of  the  district  the  streets  have  the  appearance  of 
being  seldom  cleaned.  In  front  of  tenant-houses  it  is  usual  to  see  a  pile 
of  ashes,  garbage,  and  other  refuse  matter  which  the  tenants,  in  defiance 
of  law  and  order,  will  persist  in  throwing  into  the  street,  there  to  remain 
until  the  arrival  of  the  corporation  cart,  whose  visits  are  generally  "  few 
and  far  between."  We  also  see  collections  of  refuse  vegetable  matter  in 
front  of  nearly  every  green  grocery  in  the  district,  either  in  the  gutters  or 
on  the  pavement. 

Garbage. — The  garbage-box  is  another  nuisance  which,  although 
fully  discussed  at  one  of  the  meetings  of  Sanitary  Inspectors,  still  deserves 
particular  attention.  There  are  between  50  and  60  of  these  in  my  dis- 
trict, not  one  of  which  can  be  regarded  in  any  other  light  than  one  prej- 
udicial to  the  sanitary  interests  of  their  respective  localities.  They  arc 
generally  placed  on  the  sidewalk,  in  front  of  tenant-houses,  one  often 
deemed  sufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  20  or  30  families ;  and  are 
either  constantly  full,  or  never  completely  emptied.  Very  few  of  these 
boxes  are  without  some  signs  of  demolition.  Many  have  but  three  sides, 
many  but  two,  and  not  one  in  the  whole  district  has  a  cover.  It  is  not 
unusual  to  see  these  boxes  day  by  day  receiving  their  accustomed  load, 
until  filled  to  their  utmost  capacity,  when  the  gutter  receives  the  surplus, 
which  forms  a  temporary  dam,  allowing  the  collection  and  retention  in 
the  gutter  of  pools  of  water  which  become  stagnant  and  filthy,  impregnat- 
ing the  vicinity  with  the  seeds  of  disease  and  death.  When  we  remember 
that  the  garbage-box  is  made  the  receptacle  for  not  only  ashes  and  gar- 
bage proper,  but  all  the  dirt,  rubbish,  and  refuse  matter  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  often  every  species  of  filth,  including  dead  animals  and  even 
human  excrements,  we  must  agree  with  one  of  the  Inspectors  who  named 
it  a  "  Pandora's  box,  always  open,  always  charged,  and  continually  being 
supplied  with  the  elements  of  putridity  and  disease."  Indeed,  what  more  ap- 
propriate name  could  be  applied  to  such  accumulating  masses  of  filth  al- 
lowed to  remain  from  day  to  day,  exposed  to  the  vicissitudes  of  rain  and 
sunshine,  undergoing  decomposition,  and  filling  the  atmosphere  with  tlieir 
disgusting  and  poisonous  effluvia?  When  an  attempt  is  made  to  empty 
one  of  these  boxes,  which  sometimes  happens,  the  contents  arc  hastily  re- 
moved to  the  cart,  during  which  process  more  or  less  is  spilled  from  the 
shovel  into  the  gutter,  and  there  allowed  to  remain  until  the  street-sweeper 
makes  his  appearance.  No  effort  is  made  to  thoroughly  empty  the  boxes, 
consequently  more  or  less  of  this  foul  matter  adheres  to  the  bottom  and 
sides,  sending  off  an  odor  more  disgusting  if  possible  than  it  was  before 


RELATIONS  OF  PAVEMENTS  AND  SEWERAGE  TO  HEALTH.  231 


the  mass  had  been  disturbed.  From  this  practice  the  boxes  become  so 
completely  saturated  with  their  contents  that  they  become  themselves  a 
source  of  disease.  I  would  here  enter  my  protest  against  the  use  of  these 
garbage-boxes,  for  they  are  not  only  wholly  inadequate  to  the  purpose  for 
which  they  are  intended,  but  wherever  they  are  seen  the  streets  are  in  a 
worse  condition  than  where  there  are  none. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  condition  of  the  streets  and  gut- 
ters is  one  calculated  to  exert  a  baneful  influence  upon  the  public  health  ; 
and  I  might  add  that  the  most  sickly  portions  of  my  district  are  those 
where  this  and  similar  nuisances  are  found. 

The  nature  and  condition  of  the  street  pavement  is  a  subject  of  import- 
ance to  the  sanitarian,  as  bearing  directly  upon  the  salubrity  or  insalu- 
brity of  the  city.  Unquestionably  Avhatever  condition  facilitates  cleanli- 
ness, not  only  promotes  our  comfort  and  enjoyment,  but  is  highly  condu- 
cive to  health ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  whatever  opposes  or  retards  this 
condition,  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  prejudicial.  In  the  Ituss  or  Belgian  pave- 
ment, if  the  work  be  well  done,  we  have  an  even  surface,  easily  swept, 
and  affording  no  lurking  places  for  dirt  to  collect ;  while  the  uneven  sur- 
face of  the  cobble  pavement  is  swept  with  difficulty,  the  interstices  between 
the  stones  affording  ample  protection  for  small  collections  of  both  animal 
and  vegetable  matter,  which,  in  spite  of  the  street-sweeper's  gentle  touches, 
remain,  undergo  decomposition,  and  mingle  their  foul  emanations  with 
the  surrounding  atmosphere.  The  practice  of  sprinkling  the  streets  dur- 
ing the  warm  weather,  thereby  increasing  the  humidity  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  hastening  the  decomposition  of  whatever  organic  matter  may  remain 
on  the  pavement,  is  one  directly  at  variance  with  the  present  status  of 
sanitary  science.  If  the  streets  are  regularly  and  thoroughly  swept,  they 
will  require  no  sprinkling ;  otherwise  better  suffer  an  occasional  incon- 
venience from  the  dust,  than  to  be  constantly  inhaling  the  miasm  arising 
from  this  practice. 

Sewerage. — Most  of  the  avenues  and  streets  of  the  district  are  sew- 
ered throughout  'their  entire  length.  The  sewers  generally  empty  into 
the  river  below  the  level  of  tide-water.  The  sewer  in  Twenty-sixth  street, 
however,  is  an  exception  to  this,  the  outlet  being  a  few  inches  above  that 
point.  This  sewer  terminates  at  Eleventh  Avenue,  some  two  or  three 
hundred  feet  from  the  water  at  low  tide.  From  the  termination  of  the 
sewer  to  the  river  is  an  open  ditch,  which  ends  in  a  broad  flat,  exposed  at 
low  tide,  and  covered  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  with  the  matter  deposited 
from  the  sewer,  from  which  more  or  less  of  a  disagreeable  odor  arises. 

It  is  an  almost  universal  complaint  that  at  times  the  noxious  sewer- 
gases  escape  into  the  streets  and  houses,  concerning  the  causes  of  which 


232 


EEPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITAEY  DISTRICT. 


distinguished  sanitarians  are  not  agreed,  one  believing  it  to  be  in  conse- 
quence of  a  certain  direction  of  the  wind  at  low  tide,  while  another  is 
equally  certain  that  it  occurs  only  at  high  tide  ;  the  gas  being  displaced 
and  driven  into  the  streets  and  houses  by  the  increased  volume  of  water 
in  the  sewer.  In  his  testimony  before  the  "  Metropolitan  Sanitary  Com- 
mission "  of  1847,  Mr.  John  Phillips,  Chief  Surveyor  to  the  Westminster 
Court  of  Sewers,  made  the  following  statement  in  reply  to  a  question 
concerning  currents  of  air  flowing  either  into  or  out  of  the  sewers  :  "  In 
going  along  the  sewers,  I  have  been  always  anxious  to  ascertain  that  fact. 
The  light  which  I  had  in  my  hand  I  have  placed  immediately  by  the  side 
of  and  into  the  house-drain,  and  I  found  almost  invariably  the  flare  car- 
ried.into  the  mouths  of  the  drain,  so  that  there  must  have  been  direct 
currents  from  the  sewers  through  the  house-drains,  and  so  into  the  houses 
themselves.  I  rarely  met  with  any  instances  where  there  was  not  a  cur- 
rent from  the  sewer  into  the  house-drain,  and  also  from  the  sewer  through 
a  number  of  gully  drains  into  the  streets."  This  could  not  have  been 
from  the  presence  of  an  increased  volume  of  water  in  the  sewer  driving 
the  gas  into  the  streets  and  houses,  as  under  such  circumstances  the  ex- 
amination could  not  have  been  easily  made.  On  several  occasions  I  have 
noticed  this  smell  at  low  tide  with  a  west  wind,  and  others  have  noticed 
the  same  during  the  prevalence  of  east  winds.  Yet  I  am  not  prepared  to 
say  that  it  is  never  present  during  the  period  of  high  tide.  In  many  in- 
stances this  smell  in  the  houses  may  be  further  accounted  for  by  the  char- 
acter of  the  house-drains,  which  are  often  built  of  brick,  one  leading  di- 
rectly into  the  sewer,  and  being  connected  with  several  houses  by  means 
of  side  drains.  These  brick  drains  are  often  too  large  and  of  insufficient 
inclination  to  enable  the  water  passing  through  them  to  effect  their  entire 
cleaning  ;  and  meeting  the  obstruction  presented  by  the  rough  surfaces  of 
the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  drain,  much  of  the  filth,  instead  of  finding  its 
way  directly  into  the  sewer,  is  retained  along  the  course  of  the  drains, 
and  there  remains  undergoing  decomposition,  and  giving  off  noxious  ef- 
fluvia and  poisonous  gases,  which,  if  the  waste-pipes  are  not  securely 
trapped,  will  soon  infect  the  atmosphere  of  the  whole  house.  These  sewer- 
gases  not  only  escape  through  the  waste-pipes,  but  the  walls  of  the  drains 
themselves  are  often  so  loosely  constructed,  or  arc  so  often  out  of  repair, 
as  to  allow  their  escape  independent  of  the  waste-pipes.  Instead  of  brick 
drains,  if  every  house  was  furnished  with  a  tubular  drain  of  earthen  or 
stone  ware  with  glazed  surfaces,  as  is  now  generally  used  in  the  better 
class  of  houses,  this  cause  of  the  difficulty  would  be  successfully  removed  ; 
for  the  glazed  surface  of  the  tubular  drain  affording  less  resistance  from 
friction,  and  its  decreased  capacity  so  concentrating  the  current  of  water 


EVILS  OF  SEWER-GASES  AND  OBSTRUCTED  SEWERS.  233 

passing  through  it  as  to  increase  both  its  force  and  consequently  its  power 
to  carry  the  filth  with  it,  there  is  no  possibility  of  its  being  choked  up  as 
is  almost  constantly  the  case  with  the  larger  brick  drains  ;  and  therefore 
being  always  free  from  obstruction,  there  would  be  no  decomposition  of 
matter  within  them,  and  no  foul  emanations  evolved.*  However  well  the 
drainage  may  be  constructed,  there  are  still  occasional  complaints  of  the 
escape  of  sewer-gases  into  the  houses,  for  which  your  inspectors  were  un- 
able to  account,  until  at  one  of  our  meetings  a  member  of  the  council 
mentioned  a  fact  in  connection  with  his  own  house  which  I  think  is  worth 
recording,  viz. :  that  in  emptying  the  bath-tub  of  a  large  quantity  of 
water,  the  suction  is  sometimes  sufficiently  strong  to  empty  the  traps,  leav- 
ing no  impediment  to  the  escape  of  this  odor,  which  is  remedied  by  again 
filling  the  traps.  , 

The  continual  inhalation  of  an  atmosphere  impregnated  with  these 
sewer  gases,  viz.,  carbonic  acid,  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  ammonia,  car- 
buretted  hydrogen,  etc.,  is  a  well-known  cause  of  enteric  and  typhoid  dis- 
eases ;  and  a  most  important  desideratum  is  the  best  method  by  which  we 
can  effectually  avoid  these  pestilential  agencies.  It  does  not  come  within 
the  sphere  of  my  duties  to  enter  here  upon  a  lengthy  dissertation  on  the 
complex  and  unsettled  question  of  the  sewerage  of  large  cities  ;  but  a  brief 
allusion  to  their  present  mode  of  construction,  with  a  single  suggestion, 
would  not  be  out  of  place.  As  at  present  constructed,  the  object  of  our 
street  sewers  seems  to  be  to  make  our  harbor  the  cloaca  magna  for  the 
reception  of  all  the  debris  and  filth  of  the  city,  occasionally  filling  up  our 
channels,  to  the  annoyance  and  detriment  of  our  shipping  interests.  There 
is  also  a  constantly-increasing  deposit  along  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the 
sewer,  generating  noxious  gases,  and  eventually  diminishing  the  facilities 
of  the  sewer  for  drainage,  and  rendering  necessary  its  occasional  clean- 
ing, which  is  attended  with  expense  to  the  city,  and  great  inconvenience 
to  the  workmen,  who  are  compelled  to  labor  in  a  stooping  posture,  with 
their  backs  continually  exposed  to  the  droppings  from  the  top  of  the  sewer. 

My  attention  has  recently  been  called  to  a  sewer  in  Twenty-seventh 
Street,  built  by  James  E.  Serrell,  Esq.,f  of  this  city,  civil  engineer, 

*  The  house  in  which  I  reside  is  a  good  illustration  of  this.  Soon  after  moving  into 
the  house,  nearly  four  years  ago,  it  was  discovered  that  there  existed  some  defect  in  the 
drainage,  and  upon  inspection  it  was  found  that  the  house-drain  was  a  very  poorly  con- 
structed one  of  brick,  choked  up,  and  sending  an  unpleasant  odor  through  the  house. 
This  was  thoroughly  cleaned  and  repaired,  but  after  a  few  weeks  the  same  unpleasant  odor 
returned  and  again  invaded  the  whole  house ;  and  not  until  this  brick  drain  was  removed 
and  a  tubular  one  of  tile  substituted,  were  we  relieved  of  this  offensive  nuisance. 

f  To  this  gentlemen,  to  whose  maps  and  charts  I  have  had  free  access,  I  am  indebted 
for  my  information  concerning  the  original  topography  of  the  district. 


234 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANTTAEY  DISTRICT. 


and  one  of  our  city  surveyors,  which  not  only  obviates  this  difficulty,  but 
possesses  other  advantages  not  claimed  for  any  system  of  sewerage  with 
which  I  am  acquainted.  The  improvement  consists  in  deep  vaults  called 
"  dirt-catchers,"  along  the  course  of  the  sewer,  at  such  distances  apart, 

Longitudinal  Section. 


and  of  such  a  depth,  as  to  secure  the  collection  and  retention  of  the  night 
soil  and  solid  matter  washed  from  the  street  into  the  sewer.  This  solid 
material,  sinking  to  the  bottom  of  the  vault,  and  consequently  under  water, 
will  emit  little  or  none  of  the  offensive  effluvium  so  repulsive  to  our  senses. 
By  constructing  these  "dirt-catchers"  at  proper  distances  opart,  nearly 
all  of  the  matter  otherwise  carried  into  the  river,  or  deposited  along  the 
bottom  and  sides  of  the  sewer,  will  be  collected,  for  what  passes  over  one 
vault  the  force  of  the  current  will  suffice  to  carry  to  the  next,  leaving  the 
eewcr  always  clean  and  unobstructed.  When  the  vaults  are  full  they  will 
of  course  require  to  be  cleaned ;  and  for  this  purpose  they  arc  built  in 
two  compartments,  by  means  of  a  longitudinal  partition,  and  so  arranged 
that  the  whole  current  may,  by  means  of  a  small  temporary  dam,  be  made 
to  pass  cither  compartment,  while  the  other  is  being  cleaned.  This  tem- 
porary dam  is  afterwards  removed  to  the  other  side  of  the  sewer,  and  the 
current  turned  through  the  side  of  the  vault  just  cleaned,  while  the  re- 


ME.  SEEEELl's  PLAN  OF  DIET-CATOHEES. 


235 


maining  one  is  undergoing  the  same  process.  This  arrangement  gives 
the  men  full  liberty  to  work  at  the  best  advantage,  while  the  restrained 
and  uneasy  position  which  they  are  compelled  to  assume  while  at  work 
in  the  ordinary  sewer,  enables  them  to  accomplish  but  very  little  in  a 


Cross-Section. 


given  time.  There  are  also  four  of  these  "  dirt-catchers"  in  the  Fortieth 
Street  sewer,  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  Avenues,  of  sufficient  capacity  to 
contain  100  loads  each,  and  which  have  been  cleaned  twice  since  their 
construction,  at  an  expense  of  only  from  five  to  ten  per  cent,  of  what  it 
would  cost  to  remove  the  same  bulk  of  material  from  the  ordinary  sewer. 
In  addition  to  the  advantage  gained  in  cleaning,  we  not  only  relieve  our  city 
in  a  great  measure  from  the  offensive  sewer  smell,  prevent  an  accumula- 
tion of  filth  in  the  rivers  around  our  wharves  and  piers,  but  we  are  en- 
abled to  save  to  the  country  a  vast  amount  of  fertilizing  material  hitherto 
regarded  by  agricultural  writers  as  the  great  waste  of  cities. 

These  vaults  in  the  Fortieth  Street  sewer  are  200  feet  apart,  and  re- 
ceive all  the  mud  and  dirt  which  would  be  otherwise  washed  into  the 
river,  or  adhere  to  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  sewer.  It  would  at  first 
view  seem  an  expensive  undertaking  to  construct  these  vaults  in  all  the 
sewers  throughout  the  city  ;  but,  in  view  of  the  great  relief  to  our  rivers, 


236  EEPOBT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANTTAEY  DISTEICT. 

the  increased  facilities  for  cleaning,  the  suppression  of  the  sewer  gases, 
and  the  immense  saving  to  our  agricultural  districts,  this  expense  would 
soon  be  cancelled  even  as  regards  the  old  sewers  ;  whereas  they  could  be 


Plan  at  line  A  B. 


applied  to  sewers  in  the  process  of  construction,  and  the  additional  ex- 
pense saved  by  the  construction  of  fewer  man-lioles,  and  building  the 
eewers  of  a  diminished  area,  their  present  large  size  being  necessary  only 


Culvert  or  Sluice. 


for  the  purpose  of  allowing  workmen  to  enter  when  cleansing  is  ordered, 
which,  with  the  improvement  suggested,  would  be  wholly  unnecessary. 
As  with  the  house-drains,  so  with  the  sewers,  the  current  of  water  con- 


WHY  CERTAIN  SQUARES  ARE  INSALUBRIOUS.  237 


centrated  by  the  diminished  size  of  the  conduit  flows  with  greater  force, 
and  consequently  with  a  greater  cleansing  power ;  and  instead  of  being 
deposited  along  the  bottom  and  sides  of  a  large  sewer,  from  whence  these 
offensive  gases  are  evolved,  this  foul  material  is  forced  along  by  the 
greater  power  of  the  current  through  its  diminished  channel  into  the  vault 
.into  which  it  sinks,  leaving  the  sewer  clean,  and  consequently  free  from 
these  noxious  gases  ;  for  it  should  be  remembered  that  these  gases  are  not 
generated  by  the  passage  of  this  matter  through  the  sewer,  but  by  its 
being  retained  there,  and  undergoing  decomposition  with  an  insufficient 
amount  of  water  to  cover  it. 

Squares. — My  district  comprises  35  squares,  not  including  the 
piers  and  their  surroundings  ;  and  for  the  purpose  of  systematic  inspec- 
tion they  have  been  classed  in  belts,  the  first  belt  including  the  squares 
between  Sixth  and  Seventh  Avenues,  the  second  belt  between  Seventh 
and  Eighth  Avenues,  and  so  on  ;  there  being  in  all  five  belts.  The  first 
belt,  with  a  few  exceptions,  may  be  said  to  be  in  a  good  sanitary  condi- 
tion, there  being  but  few  crowded  tenements  and  few  rear  houses.  The 
streets  are  also  generally  in  a  rather  better  condition  than  in  many  other 
portions  of  the  district.  The  inclination  of  surface  is  south  and  west, 
drainage  good,  and  no  made  ground.  There  are,  however,  a  few  locali- 
ties where  causes  of  insalubrity  exist,  and  the  effects  of  these  causes  are 
seen  in  the  increased  and  serious  character  of  the  prevailing  sickness.  In 
one  house  there  were  eight  cases  of  scarlet  fever,  five  of  which  proved 
fatal.  In  another  house,  the  privy  of  which  was  found  to  be  in  a  very 
filthy  condition,  and  a  dead  dog  had  lain  for  weeks  in  the  damp  cellar, 
typhoid  fever  and  dysentery  prevailed.  Both  of  these  houses  showed 
abundant  evidence  of  the  neglect  of  sanitary  measures,  such  as  bad  drain- 
age, damp  and  dirty  cellars,  neglect  of  personal  and  domiciliary  cleanli- 
ness, overfilled  privies,*  etc.  Other  localities  showed  similar  evidences 
of  a  lack  of  sanitary  precautions,  together  with  more  or  less  of  the 
characteristic  sickness. 

The  second  belt  of  squares  in  my  district  I  regard  as  being  in  a  mixed 
sanitary  condition  ;  some  of  the  squares  good,  others  very  bad.  The  sur- 
face inclines  to  the  south  and  west ;  the  streets  are  not  in  as  good  condi- 
tion as  those  of  the  preceding  belt,  and  in  some  instances  the  drainage  is 
more  defective.  There  are  on  this  belt  more  crowded  tenements  and 
more  rear  houses  ;  the  latter  are  often  so  near  together  that  the  rear  walls 
of  each  approach  to  within  a  few  inches  of  each  other. 

*  According  to  our  present  sanitary  laws,  a  privy  is  full  when  its  contents  reach  to 
within  two  feet  of  the  floor,  and  must  then  be  cleaned ;  hence  I  have  applied  the  term 
overfilled  to  those  privies  in  which  the  contents  come  to  above  this  point. 


238 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Massing  of  Tenements. — The  following  is  a  fair  illustration  of  the 
manner  in  which  building  lots  are  often  crowded  :  A  row  of  four  or  five- 
story  brick  tenements  stands  facing  the  street,  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet 
in  the  rear  of  which  stands  a  similar  row,  on  the  rear  portion  of  the  same 
lots  on  which  the  front  houses  stand.  In  the  rear  of  these  rear  houses, 
at  a  distance  varying  from  a  few  inches  to  two  feet,  stand  the  correspond- 
ing rear  houses  of  the  next  street,  and  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  in  front 
of  these  last  mentioned  stands  the  corresponding  row  of  front  houses. 
In  this  manner  twenty  houses,  each  twenty  feet  wide,  and  as  high  as  it 
pleases  the  owner  to  rear  them,  may  stand  on  a  space  of  less  than  20,000 
square  feet ;  and  allowing  each  front  house  to  contain  eight,  and  each 
rear  house  four  families  (a  moderate  estimate),  we  have  to  each  family 
about  164  square  feet  of  ground.  The  wood-cut  on  the  next  page 
presents  a  bird's-eye  view  and  ground-plan  of  the  locality  here  described. 
It  is  the  western  section  of  a  newly  built-up  square,  not  far  from  the  great 
hotels  on  Fifth  Avenue  and  Broadway,  and  will  almost  inevitably  become 
a  fever-nest. 

This  system  of  building  a  large  number  of  houses  on  a  small  area  of 
ground  is  frequently  seen  on  this  belt  of  squares,  and  with  it  are  found 
what  seem  to  be  inseparable  evils.  The  privy,  from  necessity,  is  located 
in  close  proximity  to  the  rear  house,  either  immediately  in  front  of  a 
window,  or  just  at  the  entrance  to  the  cellar.  It  is  in  some  instances 
connected  with  the  street  sewer  by  means  of  a  drain,  which  often  becomes 
obstructed  by  rubbish  or  garbage  thrown  into  the  vault  by  the  tenants. 
In  other  instances  there  is  no  such  connection,  and  consequently  the  privy 
is  soon  overfilled,  and  a  source  of  great  annoyance.  They  sometimes 
become  filled  to  overflowing,  and  the  yard  becomes  covered  with  their 
contents.  This  frequently  happens  after  a  hard  rain,  where  the  spout 
from  the  house  is  so  arranged  as  to  conduct  the  rain-water  from  the  roof 
into  the  privy  vault,  which  overflows,  spreading  the  contents  not  only  over 
the  yard,  but  in  some  instances  into  the  cellar,  the  bottom  of  which  be- 
comes covered  with  this  semi-liquid  filth.  In  other  instances  the  seat  and 
floor  of  the  privy  become  soiled  and  filthy  to  such  an  extent  that  they  are 
wholly  unfit  for  use,  and  the  poor  tenants  are  compelled  to  resort  to  their 
chamber  utensils,  the  contents  of  which  are  emptied  into  the  garbage-box, 
iuto  the  already  overfilled  privy,  or  into  the  narrow  space  between  tho 
rear  walls  of  tho  two  houses.  This  space  is  so  narrow  in  a  majority  of 
instances  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  a  man  to  pass  between  the  walls, 
often  becomes  the  receptacle  for  all  the  rubbish,  garbage,  and  filth  of  every 
description,  creating  an  odor  so  offensive  that  it  is  necessary  to  keep  tho 


The  Ground-Plan  with  Explanatory  Symbols. 


240  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT 

windows  closed,  depriving  the  tenants  of  that  source  of  ventilation.  For 
the  admission  of  light  these  windows  are  of  course  useless. 

With  this  nuisance  in  the  rear,  and  a  filthy,  overflowing  privy  in  front, 
it  is  a  matter  of  surprise  that  such  localities  are  ever  free  from  epidemics 
of  the  most  fearful  nature  ;  for  it  is  established  beyond  a  doubt,  that  while 
too  great  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  and  decaying  vegetable  matter  arc 
among  the  most  fruitful  sources  of  miasmatic  and  bilious  fevers,  enteric 
and  typhoid  diseases  are  generated  by  human  exhalations,  the  presence 
of  decaying  animal  matter,  and  cloacal  effluvia. 

The  third  belt,  viz.,  the  squares  situated  between  Eighth  and  Ninth 
Avenues,  are,  with  the  exception  of  one  block,  in  a  good  sanitary  condi- 
tion. This  exception  is  the  south  side  of  the  square  bounded  by  Twenty- 
sixth  and  Twenty-seventh  Streets,  where,  during  the  summer,  measles, 
cholera  infantum,  and  diarrhoea  prevailed.  The  street  had  the  appear- 
ance of  being  seldom  swept,  but  contained  more  or  less  garhage  and  dirt, 
continually  giving  off  an  offensive  smell.  Many  of  the  cellars  were  dirty, 
and  the  drainage  in  some  of  the  tenant-houses  defective.  The  north  side 
of  this  square  is  in  a  much  better  condition,  and  the  remaining  squares  on 
the  belt  are  occupied  principally  by  first-class  houses,  containing  all  the 
modern  improvements  and  proper  sanitary  regulations. 

The  remaining  two  belts  can  neither  of  them  be  said  to  be  in  a  good 
sanitary  condition,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  localities.  The  streets 
and  gutters  here  are  generally  in  a  bad  condition,  and  many  of  the  inhab- 
itants are  extremely  careless  in  regard  to  their  garbage,  house-slops,  etc. 
Dirty  cellars,  neglected  privies,  crowded  and  rear  tenements,  are  found  on 
most  of  the  squares,  with  more  or  less  of  the  sickness  peculiar  to  such 
quarters. 

The  Inhabitants. — The  first  and  third  belt  are  occupied  principally 
by  people  of  American  birth,  many  of  them  engaged  in  commercial  pur- 
suits. There  are,  however,  many  of  the  poorer  class  of  all  nationalities 
on  the  first,  and  a  few  on  the  third  belt.  In  some  portion  of  the  second, 
and  on  a  small  portion  of  the  first  belt,  there  arc  many  colored  people, 
generally  industrious  and  enterprising,  a  few  of  them  owning  the  houses 
in  which  they  live.  These  people  either  labor  at  whitewashing  and  car- 
pet-shaking, or  are  coachmen,  footmen,  waiters,  porters,  etc.  The  second 
belt  has  a  mixed  population,  the  foreign  element,  I  think,  predominating. 
They  are  generally  tradesmen,  cartmen,  mechanics,  or  laborers.  On  tho 
fourth  and  fifth  belts  the  population  is  hy  a  large  majority  of  foreign  birth, 
and  principally  Irish.  They  arc  tradesmen,  mechanics,  and  laborers. 
There  is  rather  more  intemperance  in  this  than  there  is  in  the  eastern 


DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  PRIVATE  DWELLINGS  AND  TENANT-HOUSES.  241 


portion  of  the  district,  though  there  are  no  localities  in  the  district  very 
Qotorious  for  the  prevalence  of  vice  and  immorality. 

Buildings. — Owing  to  the  important  changes  continually  occurring  in 
some  portions  of  our  city  many  of  our  statistics  can  only  be  approxima- 
tive. The  following,  however,  is  as  nearly  correct  an  account  as  I  can 
furnish  of  the  buildings  in  my  district : 


Whole  number  of  houses, 

Tenant-houses, 

Rear  houses, 

Stores, 

Drinking  shops, 
Factories,  . 
Churches, 
Public  schools, 
Vacant  lots, 


2,124 
1,206 
231 
448 
130 
25 
11 
2 
28 


About  one-seventh  of  the  houses  in  the  district  are  what  are  called 
first-class  houses,  built  either  of  stone  or  brick,  from  three  to  four  stories 
in  height,  and  containing  all  the  "  modern  improvements."  Most  of  these 
houses  are  of  modern  date,  having  been  erected  within  the  last  ten  or 
fifteen  years  ;  they  are  commodious,  well  ventilated,  and  in  good  sanitary 
condition.  The  water  is  supplied  to  every  floor,  especially  to  the  kitchen 
and  sleeping-rooms,  and  to  each  hydrant  are  pipes  for  the  free  discharge 
of  waste  water.  A  few  of  these  houses  are  warmed  with  stoves  or  grates, 
but  most  of  them  are  supplied  with  furnace-heaters.  Gas  is  used  for 
lighting.  The  bath-room,  containing  also  a  water-closet,  is  usually  lo- 
cated at  the  rear  end  of  the  hall,  either  on  the  second  or  third  floor,  and  in 
some  houses  there  is  also  a  water-closet  in  the  basement.  The  waste- 
pipes  of  the  house,  when  properly  trapped  and  well  constructed,  afford 
good  drainage,  and  prevent  the  escape  into  the  house  of  any  offensive  smell 
from  the  sewer.  A  majority  of  the  houses  in  my  district  are  what  are 
called  tenant-houses  ;  and  I  believe  that  by  far  the  most  fruitful  source  of 
disease  and  that  which  contributes  most  largely  to  the  bills  of  mortality, 
especially  infant  mortality,  is  the  present  system  of  overcrowding  this  class 
of  houses.  The  apartments  allotted  to  each  family  in  the  ordinary  tenant- 
house  usually  consist  of  one  main  room,  and  one  or  perhaps  two  small 
bedrooms.  The  main  room,  used  for  a  parlor,  sitting-room,  kitchen,  and 
laundry,  is  ventilated  by  means  of  two  windows  and  a  door  leading  into 
the  hall.  There  is  also  a  fireplace,  which  in  winter  is  usually  closed,  the 
room  being  warmed  with  a  stove.  The  ceilings  vary  somewhat  in  height, 
16 


242 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


but  8  feet  is,  I  think,  the  average.  In  the  rear  of  the  main  room  is  the 
bedroom,  about  8  or  10  feet  square,  often  less,  dark,  and  often  -without 
any  means  of  ventilation  except  the  door  leading  to  the  main  room,  which 
reduces  both  rooms  to  one  common  atmosphere.  In  a  few  of  the  best 
tenant-houses  there  is  a  small  window  from  the  bedroom  to  the  hall  which 
affords  a  better  ventilation.  In  some  of  them  there  is,  in  addition  to  the 
dark  bedroom,  a  small  hall  bedroom  with  a  good  window  affording  both 
light  and  ventilation.  In  what  is  called  a  single  tenant-house  we  have 
accommodations  of  this  kind  for  two  families  on  each  floor,  the  bedrooms 
occupying  the  space  between  the  two  main  rooms.  In  the  double  tenant- 
house  we  have  the  same  accommodations  for  four  families  on  a  floor,  the 
hall  and  stairway  being  in  the  centre,  and  apartments  for  two  families  on 
each  side. 

Table  showing  the  number  of  cubic  feet  of  air-space  to  each  individual  in 

in  tenant-houses. 
Number  of  tenant-houses  in  which  there  are  less  than 

300  cubic  feet  of  air  to  each  individual,  .  2 
"      400  "  "  26 

"      500  "  "  184 

"      800  "  "  788 

"    in  which  there  are  1,000  or  more     "       .  118 
The  greatest  number  of  cubic  feet  to  an  individual  in 

any  one  tenant-house,  ......  2,280 

The  least,   252 

One  thousand  cubic  feet  of  air  is  now  deemed  requisite  to  each  indi- 
vidual, yet  a  mere  glance  at  the  above  table  will  show  how  small  a  pro- 
portion of  tenements  in  this  district  furnish  to  their  inmates  the  required 
amount  of  that  most  essential  life-sustaining  principle.  In  one  of  these 
pent-up  apartments  live,  eat,  sleep,  cook,  and  wash,  a  family  of  perhaps 
five  or  six  individuals.  At  night  both  rooms  are  occupied,  for  what  is  a 
eettce  or  a  lounge  during  the  day  is  easily  transformed  into  a  bed,  or  per- 
haps a  straw  mattrass  on  the  floor  forms  the  sleeping  accommodations  of 
some  portion  of  the  family.  When  called  to  one  of  these  tenements  in 
the  night  time,  in  a  professional  capacity,  the  medical  man  is  arrested  at  the 
entrance  of  the  apartment  by  an  atmosphere  loaded  with  carbonic  acid 
gas  from  the  lungs,  and  the  various  exhalations  from  the  bodies  of  those 
crowded  within.  On  a  mattrass  in  one  corner  of  the  main  room  slumber 
two  or  three  children  in  blissful  ignorance  of  tbo  violation  of  any  law  of 
sanitary  science  ;  the  lounge  may  be  occupied  by  the  maiden  aunt,  or  u 


FAULTY  HOUSE. — DRAINAGE. 


243 


boarder,  or  some  adult  member  of  the  family ;  while  m  the  miserable, 
dark,  unventilated  hole  called  a  bedroom,  is  the  patient  surrounded  by  two 
or  three  officious  neighbors  doing  their  utmost  to  poison  what  little  air 
might  otherwise  reach  the  sufferer.  Almost  before  learning  the  nature 
of  his  visit,  the  physician  instinctively  raises  a  window,  and  what  often 
proves  the  most  powerful  remedial  agent  at  his  command  is  freely  admit- 
ted. This  is  no  exaggeration,  for  it  has  been  my  fortune,  and  doubtless 
that  of  many  others,  to  be  called  in  the  night  for  a  distance  of  several 
blocks  to  find  the  only  professional  services  actually  needed  to  be  the  open- 
ing of  a  window,  and  the  admission  of  an  adequate  supply  of  that  pure  air 
which  our  all-wise  Creator  intended  should  be  enjoyed  by  all  of  his 
creatures  freely  and  without  stint. 

"Water-Supply  and  House  Drainage. — Concerning  the  water-sup- 
ply and  house  drainage,  there  is  in  most  of  the  tenant-houses  room  for 
improvement.  In  the  better  class  of  tenements  the  supply  is  ample,  there 
being  usually  at  least  one  hydrant  to  each  floor,  sometimes  one  to  each 
family.  In  the  former  case  it  is  located  in  the  hall  and  resorted  to  by 
each  family  on  the  floor,  in  the  latter  case  it  is  located  in  the  main  room,' 
or  pantry,  if  there  be  one,  or  sometimes  in  the  bedroom.  It  is  not  un- 
usual while  investigating  the  sanitary  condition  of  a  tenement,  to  hear 
complaints  of  the  imperfect  construction  of  the  Croton-pipes,  a  leak  in  one, 
or  some  obstruction  in  another,  often  demanding  the  plumber's  attention. 
The  waste-pipe  is  also  a  frequent  source  of  annoyance,  not  only  from  ob- 
struction and  leakage,  but  there  being  one  continuous  pipe  from  the  top 
to  the  bottom  of  the  house  forming  connections  at  each  floor,  when  the 
families  in  the  lower  apartments  empty  their  house-slops,  the  water  in 
obedience  to  the  law  of  gravitation  descends,  while  the  vapor,  obeying  an 
equally  imperative  law,  ascends  through  the  pipes,  escaping  into  the 
apartments  above,  disseminating  a  most  foul  and  disagreeable,  not  to 
say  unhealthy  odor.  I  have  been  in  houses  where  the  water  was  kept  run 
ning  during  certain  portions  of  the  day  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  inhaling 
this  disagreeable  vapor,  when  by  having  the  waste-pipes  properly  trap- 
ped, this  annoyance  could  be  effectually  avoided,  and  the  tenants  re- 
lieved not  only  of  a  very  unpleasant  odor,  but  of  one  of  the  many 
sources  of  insalubrity  so  common  in  tenant-houses.  In  many  instances 
the  cellar  to  the  tenant-house  is  made  the  receptacle  for  all  the 
rubbish  apparently  accumulated  for  years,  and  consequently  many  of 
them  are  so  dirty  that  they  are  never  used  by  the  tenants  for  any  purpose 
whatever.  It  seems  to  be  no  one's  business  to  remove  this  dirt,  the  land- 
lord claiming  that  it  is  the  fault  of  the  tenants  that  the  nuisance  exists, 
and  the  tenants  declaring  their  innocence,  and  blaming  their  predecessors. 


2M 


EEPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


In  many  tenant-houses  the  first  floor  is  occupied  as  a  store,  in  which  are 
sold  cheap  groceries,  stale  vegetables,  very  strong  butter,  a  fluid  bearing 
some  resemblance  to  milk,  and  too  often  those  mysterious  compounds 
known  as  "  new  imported  wines  and  liquors."  Beer  is  also  sold  to  a 
greater  extent  than  any  other  commodity,  most  of  the  tenants  deeming  it 
indispensable  to  their  comfort. 

The  rear  tenements  are  found  to  be  in  a  much  more  repulsive  condi- 
tion, and  in  every  respect  more  insalubrious  than  those  in  front.  In  order 
to  reach  one  of  these  houses  we  pass  through  a  narrow  alley,  the  centre 
or  one  side  of  which  is  in  many  instances  used  as  a  surface-drain  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  off  the  house-slops  and  waste-water  which,  to  the 
annoyance  of  the  passers-by,  must  cross  the  sidewalk  in  order  to  reach 
the  street  gutter.  This  alley  passes  under  the  front  house,  a  few  steps  to 
the  rear  of  which  stands  the  object  of  our  search  surrounded  on  all  sides 
by  buildings  of  its  own  height,  and  consequently  not  only  shut  out  from 
view  of  the  street  but  from  every  current  of  air  which  might  dilute  and 
disperse  the  noxious  effluvia  arising  from  the  overfilled  privy,  usually  in 
close  proximity  to  the  entrance  of  the  house,  aud  for  a  greater  part  of  the 
day  from  that  very  essential  life-sustaining  element,  the  light  of  the  sun, 
without  which  the  most  vigorous  specimens  of  either  animal  or  vegetable 
life  will  fade  and  die.  The  water-supply  to  these  houses  is  generally  lim- 
ited to  one  hydrant  situated  in  the  yard,  or  at  the  entrance  of  the  alley. 
There  is,  in  some  instances,  a  drain  leading  from  the  hydrant  into  the 
privy-vault,  where  the  latter  is  connected  with  the  street  sewer,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  conducting  thither  the  waste  water  that  it  may  effect  the  cleans- 
ing of  the  privy.  This,  however,  it  often  fails  to  do,  especially  if  the 
drain  from  the  vaults  be  obstructed,  the  result  of  which  is  often  the  over- 
flowing of  the  vault.  I  have  visited  houses  where  it  was  impossible  to 
pass  through  the  yard,  except  by  the  aid  of  stepping-stones,  without 
getting  the  feet  soiled  from  this  very  source.  From  this  cause  a  sickening 
effluvium  is  constantly  arising,  pervading  the  whole  house,  and  often  ex- 
tending to  the  street.  Under  circumstances  like  these  I  have  found  cases 
of  typhoid  fever,  dysentery,  &c. 

The  apartments  of  these  houses  usually  consist  of  a  room  and  bedroom 
to  each  family.  In  some  instances  there  are  two  bedrooms,  but  in  most 
of  the  rear  houses  but  one,  sometimes  containing  two  beds  separated  by  a 
curtain.  The  bedroom,  always  in  the  rear  of  the  main  room,  usually 
contains  a  small  window ;  but,  as  before  stated,  in  consequence  of  its 
proximity  to  the  walls  of  the  corresponding  rear  building  of  the  adjoining 
lot,  which  may  be  a  house,  a  stable,  or  whatever  the  owner  may  choose 
to  build,  this  window  is  of  no  use  for  the  admission  of  light,  and  for 


HABITS  AND  DISEASES  IN  EEAK  TENEMENTS. 


245 


reasons  before  stated  can  rarely  be  used  for  tbe  purpose  of  ventilation. 
In  a  majority  of  rear  tenements,  therefore,  the  apartments  are  dirty,  dark, 
and  uninviting,  often  reeking  with  filth,  the  walls  wholly  innocent  of 
whitewash,  and  the  atmosphere  impregnated  with  the  disagreeable  odor 
so  peculiar  to  tenant-houses.  In  some  the  sun  never  shines,  and  the 
apartments  are  so  dark  that  unless  seated  near  the  window,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  read  ordinary  type  ;  and  yet  the  inspector  often  hears  the  hackneyed 
expression,  "  We  have  no  sickness,  thank  God,"  uttered  by  those  whose 
sunken  eyes,  pale  cheeks,  and  colorless  lips  speak  more  eloquently  than 
words  of  the  anasmic  condition  inevitably  resulting  from  the  absence  of 
pure,  fresh  air,  and  the  genial  light  of  the  sun.  Some  of  these  houses 
are  built  with  the  stairs  on  the  outside  leading  to  a  portico  to  each  story, 
which,  by  projecting  over  the  windows,  excludes  the  greater  portion  of 
what  little  sunshine  might  otherwise  enter  the  apartment.  The  cellars  of 
these  houses  (those  that  have  cellars)  are  generally  in  a  more  filthy  con- 
dition than  those  in  front,  being  not  only  loaded  with  the  accumulated 
masses  of  dirt,  garbage,  rubbish,  etc.,  but  often  substituted  for  the  privies, 
the  latter  being  unapproachable,  either  from  neglect  of  cleanliness  or  the 
malicious  behavior  of  some  of  the  tenants,  who,  in  many  instances,  seem 
to  wholly  disregard  personal  cleanliness,  if  not  the  very  first  principles 
of  decency,  their  general  appearance  and  actions  corresponding  with  the 
condition  of  their  wretched  abodes.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with 
their  clothing,  especially  their  bed-clothing,  which  has  the  appearance  of 
rarely  being  washed  or  changed,  and  is  consequently  saturated  with  the 
secretions  and  exhalations  from  the  bodies  of  their  occupants.  This  in- 
difference to  personal  and  domiciliary  cleanliness  is  doubtless  acquired 
from  a  long  familiarity  with  their  loathsome  surroundings,  wholly  at 
variance  with  all  moral  or  social  improvement,  as  well  as  the  first  princi- 
ples of  hygienic  science.  The  food  of  these  people  consists  principally  of 
the  cheap  meats  and  groceries  purchased  in  the  immediate  neighborhood, 
and  the  half-wilted  vegetables  furnished  by  the  street-hawkers,  washed 
down  by  generous  potations  of  stale  beer.  Very  poor  tea,  and  a  misera- 
ble preparation  called  rye  coffee,  are  also  used  to  a  considerable  extent. 
The  drinking  shops  in  front  of  these  houses  are  in  too  many  instances 
patronized  by  both  sexes,  another  illustration  of  the  demoralizing  effects 
of  this  mode  of  living. 

Although  the  past  season  has  been  healthy  so  far  as  my  district  is 
concerned,  yet  I  can  unhesitatingly  say  that  by  far  the  greater  amount  of 
preventable  disease  has  been  found  in  locations  similar  to  those  just  de- 
scribed, showing  the  most  conclusive  illustrations  of  the  relation  of  cause 
to  effect.   At  an  early  period  of  our  organization  a  member  of  the  Council 


216  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

suggested  the  question  of  acclimitation  as  influencing  to  some  extent  the 
direct  effects  of  these  various  causes  of  insalubrity.  I  regarded  the  idea 
as  an  important  one,  ever  keeping  it  in  view,  and  have  on  several  occasions 
noticed  that  families  suffering  the  most  from  diseases  peculiar  to  the 
season,  were  comparatively  new-comers,  and  but  for  a  short  time  exposed 
to  these  morbific  influences  ;  while  the  older  residents,  though  enjoying  to 
some  extent  an  apparent  immunity  from  these  characteristic  diseases, 
often  exhibited  a  degree  of  both  mental  and  physical  degeneration  but 
poorly  calculated  to  resist  the  force  of  epidemic  influences,  or  the  actual 
presence  of  disease.  The  children  are  strumous,  and  fall  easy  victims  to 
whooping  cough,  measles,  scarlet  fever,  small-pox,  etc.  I  have  not  been 
able  to  ascertain  the  extent  to  which  factories,  stables,  and  slaughter-houses 
affect  the  public  health,  though  in  regard  to  the  latter  I  believe  that  in 
my  district  they  are  in  as  good  condition  as  can  be  expected  of  such  "  in- 
stitutions." In  only  one  instance  have  I  heard  complaints  of  negligence 
in  the  disposal  of  offal,  and  the  consequent  stench  arising  therefrom.  But 
however  well  they  may  be  managed,  there  is  at  least  in  connection  with 
them  much  that  is  offensive,  and  I  believe  injurious  to  the  health  of  large 
cities.  In  regard  to  factories,  I  believe  their  average  condition  in  respect 
to  cleanliness  and  ventilation  to  be  far  more  favorable  both  to  comfort  and 
health  than  the  average  condition  of  crowded  tenements. 

Vacant  Lots. — Most  of  the  vacant  lots  in  the  district  arc  in  a  fair 
sanitary  condition,  though  quite  a  number  are  in  a  very  bad  condition,  con- 
taining large  quantities  of  decaying  vegetable  matter  thrown  there  from 
time  to  time  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  tenant-houses.  There 
are  two  lots  of  this  character  in  Thirty-second  Street  near  Tenth  Avenue, 
each  containing  an  abundance  of  every  thing  that  is  filthy,  which  add  mate- 
rially to  the  disgusting  character  of  the  streets.  Many  of  these  lots  contain 
rubbish  consisting  principally  of  refuse  matter  from  the  various  branches 
of  industry,  ashes,  garbage,  and  a  variety  of  worthless  material  of  every 
description.  A  vacant  lot  in  Thirtieth  Street  near  Sixth  Avenue  is  sur 
rounded  by  small  wooden  sheds  used  as  stables,  and  the  lot  itself  contains 
every  species  of  rubbish,  consisting  of  broken  carts,  milk-wagons,  old 
wheels,  and  a  variety  of  articles  of  this  description  too  numerous  to  men- 
tion. This  locality  enjoys  the  classic  name  of  "  Bummers'  Retreat,"  so 
called  from  the  fact  that  certain  members  of  our  democracy,  after  having 
imbibed  somewhat  freely  at  the  shrine  of  Bacchus,  may  "  turn  in,"  and 
beneath  the  shelter  of  some  friendly  cart,  or  some  vacant  stable,  sleep 
away  the  effects  of  their  recent  potations. 

Cellar-Population. — The  cellar-population  in  the  Twentieth  Dis- 
trict is  not  so  large,  neither  is  their  condition  so  bad  as  in  many  other 


CELLAR  POPULATION. — AIR-SPACE. 


247 


portions  of  the  city.  I  have,  by  the  kindness  of  Captain  Lord  of  the 
Sanitary  Company  M.  P.,  obtained  the  amount  of  the  cellar-population 
of  all  the  cross  streets  in  the  district,  which  comprises  nearly  all,  as  on 
the  avenues  there  are  scarcely  any  that  can  be  classed  as  such.  We 
occasionally  on  the  evenues  find  a  tailor  or  shoemaker  occupying  the  front 
portion  of  a  basement  as  his  workshop,  the  rear  portion  being  occupied 
by  his  little  family,  which  comprises  about  all  the  cellar-population  on  the 
avenues. 

Statement  of  Cellar-Population  on  the  Cross  Streets. 


Number  of  houses  containing  cellar-population,     .  .  .96 

Whole  number  of  individuals  constituting  "             .  .  567 

Minimum  amount  of  air-space  to  an  individual,  .  .  .  280 
Number  of  houses  containing  less  than  500  cubic  ft.  to  an  individual,  12 

u           it          u           m       700     »  "        .  46 

u           u          u           «       900     "  "  68 

"            "              containing  1,000     "    or  over  "         .  22 

Number  of  basements  containing  only  two  persons  each,  .  8 

«             «             "        over  nine          "  .          .  8 

The  largest  number  of  persons  in  one  basement,         .  .  14 


In  calculating  the  number  of  cubic  feet  of  air-space  to  an  individual 
in  a  tenant-house,  the  width  and  depth  of  the  house  is  multiplied  by  the 
height,  and  that  divided  by  the  number  of  people  in  the  house.  So  with 
the  cellar-population,  the  width  and  depth  of  the  house  multiplied  by  the 
height  of  the  basement-ceiling  gives  what  is  called  the  number  of  cubic 
feet  of  air-space  which  includes  the  hall,  stairway,  partitions,  &c.  It 
will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  these  figures  do  not  represent  a  correct  esti- 
mate of  the  actual  number  of  cubic  feet  of  breathing  air  allotted  to  each 
individual,  for  when  we  make  allowance  for  the  furniture  contained  in 
these  apartments  we  must  make  a  still  further  reduction  and  reduce  the 
actual  amount  of  air  to  a  figure  considerably  below  that  of  the  present 
estimate.  The  amount  of  cellar-population  in  the  city,  Captain  Lord 
informs  me,  has  considerably  diminished  ;  and  as  far  as  the  Twentieth 
District  is  concerned,  they  are  in  many  instances,  especially  those  on  the 
sunny  side  of  the  street,  more  comfortable  than  the  occupants  of  the 
rear  tenement.  There  are,  however,  many  examples  showing  that  what- 
ever has  heretofore  been  said  of  dark,  damp,  and  cheerless  abodes  of  our 
cellar-population,  is  no  exaggeration.  But  I  shall  leave  any  further  re- 
marks on  this  subject  to  those  in  whose  districts  the  evil  is  found  to  exist 
in  a  much  greater  degree  than  in  the  Twentieth  Ward. 

Improvements. — No  instance  of  any  improvement  made  through  the 


248 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


influence  of  the  health  department  officials  has  come  to  my  knowledge 
since  commencing  this  inspection.  To  show,  however,  the  facility  with 
which  many  of  these  evils  are  remedied.  I  would  add  that  in  many  in- 
stances my  visits  have  been  followed  with  this  desired  result  without  the 
necessity  for  a  complaint ;  the  landlords  sometimes  going  so  far  as  to 
issue  printed  notices  to  their  tenants  containing  certain  requisitions,  and 
threatening  ejectment  as  a  penalty  for  their  non-compliance.  It  has  ever 
been  my  aim  to  make  as  few  complaints  as  possible,  and  to  effect  desired 
changes  in  a  peaceable  manner.  The  experience  which  I  have  had  in  this 
respect  has  convinced  me  that,  if  invested  with  legal  authority,  your  in- 
spectors could  have  easily  instituted  a  thorough  sanitary  reform  through- 
out the  city  ;  and  that  the  present  health  wardens  have  no  excuse  what- 
ever for  allowing  so  many  nuisances  to  exist,  and  manifesting  so  little  in- 
terest for  the  sanitary  condition  of  their  respective  wards.  I  am  more 
than  ever  convinced  that  this  office  of  health  warden  is  a  mere  sinecure, 
generally  awarded  to  political  favorites  who  understand  little  and  care  less 
about  the  duties  incumbent  upon  them,  and  whose  official  occupation,  aside 
from  electioneering,  seems  to  be  to  draw  and  spend  their  salaries.  As 
far  as  my  own  ward  is  concerned,  I  never  hear  of  this  functionary  in  his 
official  capacity,  although  there  is  enough  to  occupy  his  attention,  and  test 
his  capacity  as  a  health  officer.  If  instead  of  filling  this  important  office 
with  men  ignorant  of  the  first  principles  of  sanitary  science,  a  competent 
medical  man  were  appointed  to  each  ward,  with  one  of  Captain  Lord's 
efficient  men  as  an  assistant,  more  would  be  accomplished  in  a  single 
month  toward  promoting  the  real  sanitary  interests  of  the  city,  than  is 
ever  done  by  these  misnamed  guardians  of  the  public  health  ;  and  I  be- 
lieve that  not  until  these  sacred  trusts  are  confided  to  competent  men,  will 
the  important  duties  of  health  warden  ever  be  discharged  in  a  conscien- 
tious and  intelligent  manner. 

Diseases. — The  principal  diseases  met  with  during  the  past  season 
have  been  typhoid  fever,  measles,  scarlet  fever,  diarrhoea,  cholera  infan- 
tum, and  dysentery.  But  few  cases  of  small-pox  have  come  to  my  knowl- 
edge within  the  district.*  I  have  found  but  few  houses  with  more  tban 
one  or  two  cases  of  sickness  at  one  time,  most  of  them  being  isolated 
casc3  in  localities  where  causes  of  insalubrity  were  seen  ;  and  wherever 
a  house  has  borne  to  any  extent  the  appearance  of  a  fever-nest  or  pest- 
house,  these  causes  have  existed  in  proportion. 

It  might  be  asked  why  it  is  that  no  greater  amount  of  sickness  is 
found  in  places  where  there  arc  so  many  apparent  sources  of  insalubrity. 
It  is  a  fact  in  medical  science,  better  known  than  understood,  that  to  cer- 
tain conditions  of  the  atmosphere  are  duo  the  characteristic  features  of 
•  Since  tins  Report  was  written  Small-pox  has  become  fearfully  prevalent 


EPIDEMICS  AM)  ENDEMICS  EST  TENANT  QUARTERS.  249 


the  prevailing  disease  of  any  season.  Precisely  what  this  atmospheric 
agency  is  that  gives  us  an  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever  at  one.  time,  and 
small-pox  or  cholera  at  another,  we  are  ignorant ;  hut  the  fact  that  it  does 
exist,  and  the  knowledge  of  that  fact,  should  suffice  to  induce  us  to  guard 
with  jealous  care  our  sanitary  interests,  and  leave  behind  no  magazine  to 
explode  at  the  slightest  exposure  to  these  meteorological  changes.  Dur- 
ing the  past  season  we  have  been  unusually  free  from  epidemic  influences, 
and  these  germs  of  disease  have  been  permitted  to  remain  latent  in  many 
places,  awaiting  only  the  appropriate  stimulus  to  send  them  forth  to  the 
successful  and  speedy  execution  of  their  destructive  mission.  Had  an 
epidemic  of  cholera  or  dysentery  appeared  in  these  localities  during  the 
past  summer,  its  ravages  would  have  been  fearful,  as  the  well-known  his- 
tory of  epidemics  can  abundantly  testify ;  and  even  sporadic  cases  of 
measles  and  scarlet  fever  prove  fatal  in  a  much  greater  proportion  in  these 
localities  than  in  the  more  salubrious  districts.  A  very  large  majority  of 
cases  of  cholera  infantum  occurring  in  rear  tenements  from  which  are  ex- 
cluded the  genial  rays  of  sunshine,  and  where  the  atmosphere  is  loaded 
with  the  emanations  from  overflowing  privies,  filthy  cellars,  and  undrained 
cesspools,  prove  rapidly  fatal  in  spite  of  the  most  judicious  medical  treat- 
ment ;  whereas,  when  the  disease  appears  under  more  favorable  circum- 
stances, a  fair  proportion  of  the  little  patients  recover.  This  is  not  the 
hasty  conclusions  of  an  overwrought  fancy,  influenced  by  some  finely-spun 
theory,  but  the  conscientious  conviction  that  emanates  from  the  experience 
of  physicians  who  have  for  years  given  this  subject  their  careful,  earnest  at- 
tention. It  is  in  accordance  with  your  own  experience,  gentlemen,  who 
have  often  seen  your  best  efforts  baffled  by  these  counteracting  influences 
of  the  surrounding  sources  and  propagators  of  disease. 

I  have  often  found  an  apparent  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  tenants  to 
acknowledge  the  truth  in  regard  to  the  actual  amount  of  sickness  occur- 
ring amongst  them,  often  pursuing  my  inquiries  as  far  as  the  third  floor, 
and  there  learning  that  deaths  had  occurred  from  fever,  or  cholera  infan- 
tum, after  having  been  told  repeatedly  that  there  neither  was  nor  had  been 
sickness  in  the  house.  I  have  not  been  able  to  account  for  this  unwilling- 
ness to  communicate  information ;  but  having  seen  it  manifested  on  so 
many  occasions,  have  no  doubt  that  much  of  the  truth  escapes  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  inspector,  and  that  a  greater  amount  of  disease  has  been  pres- 
ent than  Ave  have  been  able  to  learn.  Besides  epidemic  influence,  there 
are  many  diseases  propagated  by  certain  noxious  emanations  arising  from 
the  bodies  of  those  laboring  under  the  same  diseases,  diffusing  themselves 
througli  the  atmosphere,  and  entering  the  body  during  respiration  ;  or  in 
other  instances  attaching  themselves  to  certain  substances  (fomites),  by 


250  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SAN  IT  ART  DISTRICT. 


means  of  which  they  may  be  transported  to  places  far  remote  from  their 
original  development,  still  remaining  active  elements  of  disease.  If  this 
contagious  or  infectious  element  be  diluted  by  a  sufficient  amount  of  pure 
air,  or,  in  other  words,  if  the  apartments  of  the  sick  are  well  ventilated, 
and  proper  hygienic  precautions  observed  by  the  friends  and  attendants, 
there  will  be  but  little  danger  from  exposure  to  its  influence.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  be  confined  to  crowded  tenements,  filthy  courts,  or  narrow 
and  dirty  streets,  all  of  which  are  exposed  to  the  effluvia  arising  from  open 
privies,  cesspools,  decomposing  animal  and  vegetable  matter,  and  the  ex- 
halations from  living  bodies,  the  result  is  quite  different,  and  the  demon 
of  contagion  stalks  forth  in  all  its  power  and  malignancy,  seizing  its  vic- 
tims upon  every  side,  and  increasing  the  bills  of  mortality  to  a  frightful 
degree.  It  is,  then,  to  epidemic  and  contagious  influences  when  associ- 
ated with  overcrowding  and  want  of  ventilation,  the  miasm  arising  from 
the  filthy  and  disgusting  condition  of  external  surroundings,  the  dissipated 
habits,  poverty,  and  destitution  often  prevailing  in  these  localities,  that 
is  due  the  greater  portion  of  preventable  disease ;  and  it  is  by  the 
absence  of  these  epidemic  and  contagious  influences,  the  naturally 
healthy  topography,  and  the  occasional  fresh  breezes  from  the  Hud- 
son, that  I  account  for  the  fact  of  there  being  no  greater  amount  of 
sickness  in  certain  portions  of  the  Twentieth  District,  where  so  many 
causes  of  insalubrity  exist.  Another  cause  of  disease  which  deserves 
particular  attention  from  our  authorities,  is  the  inferior  quality  of  food  used 
by  the  poor,  especially  the  miserable  half-wilted  vegetables  and  unripe 
fruit,  either  hawked  through  the  streets  or  found  in  profusion  at  the  various 
small  groceries  throughout  the  city.  To  this  may  be  added  the  milk 
from  swill-fed  cows  with  which  some  portion  of  our  city  is  still  supplied, 
the  evil  effects  of  which  have  on  previous  occasions  been  most  graphically 
portrayed ;  and  the  very  poor  liquor  in  which  a  portion  of  the  poor  of 
both  sexes  too  freely  indulge,  under  the  erroneous  impression  that  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  stimulus  is  alike  necessary  to  protect  them  from  the  cold 
of  winter  and  the  diseases  peculiar  to  the  summer  months,  thus  paving 
the  way  to  intemperance  and  every  consequent  vice.  The  fact  that  "  dis- 
ease has  ever  been  remarked  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  poverty  and  want, 
and  to  be  proportionate  to  their  extent,"  should  also  warn  us  to  look  well 
to  the  sanitary  condition  of  our  city.  We  arc  in  the  midst  of  a  season  of 
high  prices,  with  the  laborer's  remuneration  inadequate  to  the  bare  neces- 
sities of  life,  and  the  prospect  of  a  severe  winter  before  us,  the  inevitable 
consequence  of  which  will  be  to  so  reduce  the  vital  forces,  and  weaken 
(lie  powers  of  resistance  to  external  impressions,  as  to  convert  what  may 
in  seasons  of  plenty  be  considered  merely  predisposing,  into  active  or  ex- 


FOOD  FOE  DISEASE. — NEGLECT  OF  VACCINATION. 


251 


citing  causes  of  disease.  As  an  illustration  of  this  I  need  only  allude  to 
the  fact  that  fever  is  pretty  sure  to  follow  a  famine,  originating  in  the 
more  filthy  localities,  and  selecting  its  first  victims  from  among  those 
whom  the  various  causes  above  mentioned  have  combined  to  render  more 
susceptible  to  the  reception  of  contagious  or  malarial  poison.  Even 
though  we  were  so  fortunate  as  to  pass  through  the  present  winter,  and 
escape  the  visitation  of  any  severe  epidemic  or  contagious  disease,  what 
may  we  not  reasonably  expect  during  the  following  season,  if  the  many 
nuisances  above  described  are  allowed  to  remain  unabated?  Will  not 
the  germs  of  disease  here  so  carefully  nurtured,  be  rendered  ten  fold 
more  active  upon  constitutions  already  reduced  by  insufficient  food  and 
clothing,  to  say  nothing  of  the  nervous  exhaustion  induced  by  the  depress- 
ing passions  to  which  the  poor  are  subjected  in  every  season  of  destitution 
and  want  ? 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  a  large  amount  of  disease  occurring  in 
our  midst  is  of  a  preventable  character,  and  in  a  great  degree  subject  to 
sanitary  laws,  in  the  observance  of  which  the  people,  especially  the  poor, 
need  to  be  educated.  As  an  instance  of  the  neglect  of  precautionary 
measures,  either  through  ignorance  or  carelessness,  I  would  state  that 
while  inspecting  a  court  containing  some  25  families,  I  found,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  usual  sources  of  insalubrity,  8  children  between  the  ages  of 
1  and  12  years,  who  had  never  been  vaccinated.  If  people  will  con- 
tinue to  neglect  measures  so  simple  and  yet  so  effectual,  notwithstanding 
the  repeated  epidemics  of  small-pox  with  which  our  city  is  visited,  the 
time  must  arrive  when  compulsory  vaccination  will  be  imperatively  de- 
manded, not  only  for  our  own  protection,  but  as  a  duty  which  New  York 
as  a  great  commercial  centre  owes  to  the  surrounding  country.  People 
from  all  directions  are  continually  visiting  our  city,  and  carrying  away 
with  them  to  their  respective  neighborhoods  the  germs  of  this  most  loath- 
some disease,  than  which  nothing  is  more  under  the  immediate  control  of 
preventive  medicine.  What  is  true  of  fevers  and  small-pox  may  also  be 
said  of  the  greater  part  of  infantile  disease.  During  four  weeks  in  the 
month  of  August  of  the  present  year,  there  died  in  this  city  1,773  children, 
1,626  of  them  being  children  of  foreign-born  parents,  a  great  majoi-ity  of 
whom  we  know  belong  to  the  laboring  classes,  and  live  in  crowded  ten- 
ements or  pent-up  courts,  surrounded  by  filthy  gutters,  garbage-boxes, 
neglected  privies  and  cesspools,  to  Avhich  with  the  adulterated  milk  and 
stale  vegetables  with  which  these  poor  innocents  are  fed,  is  due  a  great 
portion  of  this  infant  mortality.  Notwithstanding,  however,  the  yearly 
repetition  of  these  facts,  we  read  in  the  last  Report  of  the  Registrar  of 
Records  and  statistics  to  the  City  Inspector,  that  "  this  talk  about  tho 


252  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

number  of  lives  that  are  lost  each,  year  for  want  of  proper  sanitary  meas- 
ures, is  a  perfect  fallacy."  *  As  an  off-set  to  this  luminous  effusion  I 
would  beg  leave  to  close  this  portion  of  my  subject  by  another  single  quo- 
tation :  "  Nature  deals  out  death  with  terrible  severity  to  those  who  vio- 
late her  laws,  even  in  ignorance ;  and  it  is  for  the  most  only  through 
dearly-bought  experience  that  those  laws  are  ascertained."  j- 

Conclusion. — I  have  thus  far  endeavored  to  give  a  faithful  though 
brief  account  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  southern  half  of  the  Twen- 
tieth Ward.  A  more  extended  report  would  require  more  time  and  space 
than  is  allotted  me,  and  it  now  only  remains  for  me  to  suggest  such  reme- 
dial measures  as  would  most  probably  conduce  to  sanitary  improvement : 

1.  A  more  thorough  system  of  drainage  by  means  of  sewers  and 
waste-pipes,  is,  I  believe,  imperatively  demanded ;  and  for  reasons  ad- 
vanced under  the  head  of  sewerage,  I  think  the  improvement  there  sug- 
gested admirably  adapted  to  our  necessities,  both  for  efficiency  and  econ- 
omy, it  being  easily  applied  to  all  sewers  now,  or  hereafter  constructed. 
The  house  drainage  should  consist  of  pipes  of  suitable  capacity  and  im- 
pervious material  leading  directly  from  each  house  to  the  sewer,  instead 
of  one  being  connected  with  several  houses  as  is  now  too  often  the  case  ; 
and  the  waste-pipes  through  the  house  should  be  so  thoroughly  trapped  as 
to  render  the  escape  of  sewer  gas  impossible.  I  would  recommend  the 
entire  removal  of  cesspools  from  courts  and  alleys,  and  the  introduction 
of  tubular  drains  leading  into  the  street  sewer. 

2.  Tbe  old-fashioned  cobble  pavement  should  be  wholly  dispensed 
with,  and  that  of  cubic  blocks  of  trap-rock  substituted,  as  affording  greater 
facilities  for  cleaning,  and  therefore  more  conducive  to  health.  With 
this  pavement,  I  would  insist  upon  the  streets  being  swept  so  frequently 
as  to  obviate  the  apparent  necessity  for  sprinkling,  for  reasons  elsewhere 
given. 

3.  I  would  recommend  the  removal  of  slaughter-houses  from  the  city, 
and  the  annihilation,  if  possible,  of  the  garbage-box,  adopting  some  system 
for  the  removal  of  garbage  from  the  houses  without  its  being  exposed  for 
any  time  upon  the  sidewalk.  The  present  system  of  sending  a  bell-man  in 
advance  of  the  cart,  as  practised  in  some  of  the  streets,  might  be  made 
very  efficient,  if  properly  executed.  I  would  then  impose  a  heavy  line 
upon  every  green  grocer,  meat,  fish,  or  poultry  dealer  who  throws  any  of 
his  refuse  material,  whether  animal  or  vegetable,  into  the  gutters  or  street, 
as  is  now  too  frequently  done. 

*  City  Inspector's  Report  for  18G3,  page  335. 

f  Local  Reports  on  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  laboring  population  of  England  and 
Wales,  1842,  page  150. 


PREVENTIVE  AND  REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


253 


4.  The  privies  to  tenant-houses  should  be  connected  with  the  street 
sewer,  by  means  of  tubular  drains  of  sufficient  capacity  and  inclination  to 
prevent  their  obstruction,  through  which  a  current  of  water  might  be 
made  to  pass  at  intervals,  with  sufficient  force  to  insure  its  thorough  clean- 
ing. The  plan  in  use  at  the  public  schools  is  perhaps  the  best  for  tenant- 
houses.  Even  as  now  constructed,  tight-fitting  covers  to  the  seats,  and  a 
ventilating  tube  extending  high  above  the  roof,  would  afford  some  relief, 
as  the  effluvium  there,  if  carried  to  a  sufficient  height,  might  be  diluted 
or  dispersed  by  a  current  of  air. 

5.  I  woidd  recommend  that  a  system  of  marketing  be  instituted  by 
which  the  consumer  is  brought  into  immediate  relation  with  the  producer  ; 
thus  placing  within  the  reach  of  the  poor  of  our  city  good  wholesome  food, 
in  place  of  the  miserable  half-wilted  trash  almost  universally  used  by 
this  class  of  people. 

6.  I  would  have  the  entire  sanitary  interests  of  the  city  intrusted  to  a 
board  composed  of  well-educated  medical  men,  with  whom  should  be 
associated  engineers  and  architects  of  acknowledged  ability,  whose  advice 
should  at  all  times  be  sought  upon  questions  c.oming  within  the  sphere 
of  their  professional  duties.  This  sanitary  board  should  have  power  to 
appoint  inspectors,  consisting  of  at  least  one  medical  man  to  each  ward, 
with  a  competant  assistant,  to  take  the  place  of  those  myths  the  health 
warden  and  his  assistant.  These  ward  officers  should  have  power  to 
suppress  all  nuisances,  to  enforce  certain  sanitary  regulations,  including 
both  out-door  and  in-door  cleanliness,  to  investigate,  and  as  far  as  pos- 
sible remove  all  apparent  causes  of  preventable  disease ;  and,  in  short,  to 
exercise  a  general  supervision  over  the  entire  sanitary  interests  of  their 
respective  wards. 

7.  The  establishment  of  a  vaccine  bureau,  with  an  adequate  number 
of  inspectors,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  visit  and  present  the  subject  of 
vaccination  to  every  family  in  their  respective  districts,  offering  gratuitous 
vaccination  to  all  who  are  unable  to  pay  for  it,  and  urging  upon  others 
the  importance  of  attending  to  the  matter  at  the  earliest  opportunity. 
Such  a  course  would  eventually  expel  the  small-pox  from  our  city,  or  at 
least  limit  its  ravages  to  a  few  isolated  cases. 

8.  The  passage  of  a  building  act  prohibiting  the  present  system  of 
crowding  and  building  houses  on  plans  so  injurious  to  health,  the  occupa- 
tion of  cellars  for  dwellings,  and  subjecting  to  certain  restrictions  the  con- 
struction of  courts  and  rear  houses.  For  what  calls  most  imperatively 
for  reform,  is  the  present  construction  of  tenant-houses  as  regards  light, 
ventilation,  and  every  necessary  comfort.  Not  only  does  the  present 
system  of  overcrowding  these  pent-up  and  unventilated  apartments,  and 


254 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


the  consequent  necessity  of  inhaling  an  atmosphere  loaded  with  carhonic 
acid  gas,  and  the  poisonous  exhalations  from  human  bodies,  enervate  the 
physical  powers,  and  predispose  to  diseases  of  the  worst  type,  but  its  de- 
moralizing effects  are  fearful  to  contemplate,  and  instead  of  being  the 
most  attractive,  home  is  often  rendered  the  most  uncomfortable  and  unin- 
viting spot  on  earth.  Hence  it  is  that  the  husband  spends  his  evenings 
at  the  neighboring  dram-shop,  or  the  gambling-house,  in  search  of  com- 
forts which  his  own  fireside  denies  him.  Hence  it  is  that  children  reared 
amid  these  scenes  of  poverty,  intemperance,  and  the  whole  train  of  their 
attendant  evils,  becoming  daily  more  familiar  with  profanity  and  every 
species  of  wickedness,  grow  up  willing  and  early  victims  to  whatever 
vicious  or  criminal  course  may  seem  to  them  more  attractive  than  their 
own  miserable  abodes.  And  hence  I  believe  much  of  the  vice,  immoral- 
ity, and  crime  of  our  city  to  be  due  to  the  construction,  overcrowding,  and 
mismanagement  of  tenant-houses. 

Efforts  are  from  time  to  time  made  to  relieve  the  condition  of  the 
poor,  for  which  associations  and  individuals  have  contributed  largely,  all 
of  which,  however,  is  but  a  sprinkling  of  rain  upon  this  great  waste  of 
human  misery  and  destitution.  The  man  of  God  who,  in  the  exercise  of 
his  sacred  office,  frequents  these  abodes  of  poverty  in  the  hopes  of  direct- 
ing the  attention  of  some  poor  creature  to  the  One  thing  needful,  too  often 
encounters  only  that  sullen  or  desponding  indifference  resulting  from  a 
long  familiarity  with  every  thing  that  is  cheerless  and  unattractive.  If 
we  would  elevate  the  condition  of  these  people,  we  must  begin  by  reliev- 
ing their  social  and  domestic  necessities,  and  furnishing  them  with  habita- 
tions where  they  can  enjoy  sunshine  and  pure  air,  with  abundant  facilities 
for  personal  and  domiciliary  cleanliness.  We  then  shall  have  taken  the 
first  step  toward  improving  their  moral  as  well  as  physical  condition,  and 
pointing  them  to  the  fulfilment  of  man's  higher  destiny.  But  the  dark 
and  cheerless  rear  tenement,  with  its  unventilated  apartments,  its  damp 
and  dingy  walls,  and  the  attendant  neglect  of  all  sanitary  measures,  is 
wholly  incompatible  with  man's  social  and  moral  nature,  destroys  all 
noble  aspirations,  ruins  the  most  vigorous  health,  and  opens  wide  the 
gate  to  mental,  moral,  physical,  and  spiritual  death. 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

TWENTY-FIRST  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


JAMES    L.   LITTLE,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — The  Twenty-first  District  comprises  the  northern  half  of 
the  Twentieth  Ward,  and  is  bounded  north  by  Fortieth  Street,  east  by  Sixth 
Avenue,  south  by  Thirty-third  Street,  and  west  by  the  Hudson  River.  It 
contains  A.1  squares. 

Topographt. — The  original  surface  of  this  section  of  the  city  was 
high,  rocky,  and  very  uneven.  The  general  slope  was  to  the  west,  al- 
though a  portion  inclined  to  the  south  and  east.  This  condition  of  the  sur- 
face afforded  good  facilities  for  drainage,  the  greater  portion  of  the  water 
flowing  into  the  Hudson  River  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other  running  into 
streams  which  emptied  into  the  East  River. 

The  highest  ground  began  at  Thirty-third  Street  and  Sixth  Avenue, 
running  in  a  northerly  direction  as  far  as  Thirty-fifth  Street  and  Seventh 
Avenue  ;  here  making  a  turn  to  the  west  it  ended  abruptly  in  rocks  at  the 
foot  of  Thirty-ninth  Street.  This  high  ground  was  formed  by  two  hills 
running  nearly  north,  then  west,  and  parallel  to  each  other.  The  sum- 
mits of  these  hills  were  formed  by  outcropping  rock  projecting  above  the 
general  surface. 

On  each  side  of  the  Bloomingdale  Road  (Broadway),  from  Thirty- 
fourth  Street  to  Forty-first  Street,  the  rock  was  about  fifteen  feet  above 
the  common  plane.  It  was  not  in  one  continuous  chain,  but  appeared  al- 
ternately on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other.  It  also  outcrops  above  the 
surface  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  River  in  numerous  places.  This  rock 
is  principally  gneiss,  with  veins  of  quartz  running  tortuously  through  it. 


258  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

Along  the  river,  granite  of  an  inferior  quality  is  found.  The  original 
highest  elevations  of  ground  in  this  section  are  at  Thirty-third  Street  and 
Sixth  Avenue,  Thirty-fifth  Street  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues, 
and  Thirty-eighth  Street  a  short  distance  east  of  the  Eleventh  Avenue. 
These  points  were  from  fifty-eight  to  sixty  feet  above  the  high-water  mark. 
The  present  elevations  above  high-water  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the 
sanitary  map.  The  land  in  this  section,  on  account  of  the  elevation,  is 
naturally  very  dry. 

Water-courses. — There  were  two  small,  shallow  ponds,  one  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Thirty-fifth  Street  and  Seventh  Avenue,  and  the  other  between 
Thirty-eighth  and  Thirty-ninth  Streets,  a  short  distance  east  of  the  Seventh 
Avenue. 

The  pond  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Thirty-fifth  Street  and  Seventh 
Avenue  extended  about  one-half  across  the  present  street  and  avenue. 
From  this  pond  a  small  stream  flowed  in  a  northerly  direction  between 
the  hills  before  mentioned,  and  emptied  at  about  the  present  corner  of 
Fortieth  Street  and  Tenth  Avenue  into  a  larger  stream  which  originated 
between  Forty-third  and  Forty-fourth  Streets  and  Eighth  Avenue,  and 
flowed  north,  then  westwardly,  and  then  taking  a  southerly  direction  ran 
through  a  marsh  at  Fortieth  and  Forty-first  Streets  and  Tenth  Avenue, 
and  finally  emptied  at  the  foot  of  Forty-second  Street  into  the  Hudson 
River.  The  pond  between  Thirty-eighth  and  Thirty-ninth  Streets,  near 
Seventh  Avenue,  was  about  one  hundred  feet  in  diameter.  This  was  con- 
nected by  a  drain  to  another  pond  in  Forty-second  Street,  about  midway 
between  Sixth  and  Seventh  Avenues.  Another  stream  started  from 
Thirty-seventh  Street  and  Eighth  Avenue,  flowing  in  a  northwesterly 
course,  and  emptied  at  Forty-second  Street  and  Ninth  Avenue. 

Streets. — The  condition  of  the  streets  in  the  Twenty-first  District 
varies  with  the  neighborhood.  In  that  portion  cast  of  Eighth  Avenue, 
which  contains  the  better  class  of  dwellings,  they  are  generally  kept  in  a 
cleanly  condition,  especially  those  streets  which  are  paved  with  the  Bel- 
gian pavement. 

The  streets  west  of  Eighth  Avenue,  with  a  few  exceptions,  arc  paved 
with  cobble  stones,  are  at  all  times  out  of  repair,  and  at  all  times  in  a 
very  dirty  condition,  and  are  constantly  obstructed  by  old  casks,  barrels, 
and  other  truck.  As  we  approach  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Avenues,  some  of 
them  in  wet  weather  are  almost  impassable.  The  Eleventh  Avenue  is  al- 
ways in  a  filthy  condition,  and  seems  to  be  entirely  out  of  the  range  of 
the  street-sweepers,  who  occasionally  make  their  appearance  in  other  parts 
of  my  district.    The  surface  filth  of  streets  being  composed  of  mud,  offal, 


SEWERAGE  AND  TENANT-HOUSES  TIP  TOWN. 


257 


and  vegetable  and  animal  refuse  that  are  exposed  during  the  summer 
months  to  the  hot  sun,  gives  rise  to  the  constant  evolution  of  deleterious 
gases  which  poison  the  atmosphere,  and  thus  exerts  a  deleterious  influence 
on  the  health  of  those  living  in  the  neighborhood.  And  those  streets  that 
are  in  the  worst  condition  are  generally  those  in  which  hundreds  of  hu- 
man beings  are  crowded  in  ill-ventilated  tenant-houses. 

Sewerage. — The  Council's  Sanitary  and  Topographical  Map  will  show 
the  sewerage  of  my  district.  I  would  call  the  attention  of  the  Council  to 
the  sewer  in  Fortieth  Street,  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  Avenues.  This 
is  constructed  after  a  plan  suggested  by  Mr.  Serrell,  one  of  the  city  sur- 
veyors. It  is  furnished  with  a  series  of  traps  called  dirt-catchers,  by 
means  of  which  the  solid  matter  from  the  sewers  is  saved,  and  may  be 
used  for  fertilization  ;  and  it  is  also  prevented  from  filling  up  the  river  at 
the  mouths  of  the  sewers.  For  a  full  description  of  this  excellent  plan  of 
sewerage,  I  beg  leave  to  refer  you  to  the  report  of  Dr.  Janes,  inspector 
of  the  Twentieth  District.* 

Buildings. — The  better  class  of  buildings  in  this  district  is  mostly 
situated  in  the  streets  east  of  Eighth  Avenue,  and  as  far  as  examined  are 
furnished  with  all  the  modern  improvements.  As  time  would  not  permit 
me  to  make  a  thorough  inspection  of  these  houses,  I  am  unable  to  state 
their  precise  sanitary  condition. 

There  are  330  stores  in  this  district,  and  147  places  where  liquor  is 
sold. 

Tenant-Houses. — In  my  district  there  are  41 7  tenant-houses,  of  which 
345  are  built  of  brick  ;  72  are  frame  buildings.  There  are  361  front  and 
56  rear  buildings.  Of  this  number  321  are  furnished  with  proper  sewer- 
age, and  the  remaining  105  have  no  communication  with  the  sewers. 
Slops,  &c,  are  thrown  into  the  street  gutters  and  garbage-boxes.  There 
are  2,614  families,  comprising  11,993  individuals,  hiving  in  these  tenant- 
houses,  of  whom  337  live  in  cellars. 

Ventilation. — These  houses  are  constructed  so  as  to  contain  as  many 
families  as  possible,  and  generally  no  attempt  is  made  to  secure  for  the 
inmates  proper  ventilation.  This  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  high 
rate  of  mortality  which  occurs  in  these  buildings.  In  the  words  of  a 
member  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene  :  "  The  close,  uncleansed,  unventilated 
residences  of  the  poor,  become  the  homes  of  disease  and  pauperism ;  the 
crowded  tenements  into  which  avarice  drives  poverty,  in  filthy  streets  and 
noisome  courts,  become  perennial  sources  of  deadly  miasmata  that  may 

*  See  the  diagrams  representing  Mr.  Serrell'a  improvements,  pages  234-230. — Editor. 


258 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  SAOTTARY  DISTRICT. 


fig.  3. 


be  wafted  to  the  neighboring  mansions  of  wealth  and  refinement,  to  cause 
sickness  and  mourning  there."  * 

Impurity  of  the  air  and  a  miserable  home  involve  ill  health,  degrada- 
tion, and  an  early  death  ;  and  the  subject  of  providing  proper  homes  for 
the  poor  and  the  laboring  classes  of  this  city,  is  one  which  should  engage 
the  earnest  attention  of  our  Le<?islature. 

According  to  authority,  a  person 
breathes  14  cubic  feet  of  air  per 
hour.  This  quantity  of  air,  when 
returned  from  the  lungs  exhausted 
of  the  vital  element  oxygen,  is 
charged  with  carbonic  acid  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  vitiates  to  a  great 
and  poisonous  degree  100  cubic  feet 
more  of  air.  The  annexed  figure 
represents  this  14  cubic  feet  which 
is  used  per  hour  by  each  individual. 
The  adjoining  figure  2  represents  a 
space  of  125  cubic  feet. 

The  inclosed  figure  represents  a 
man  of  ordinary  size  compared  with 
the  above  cubic  space,  and  it  shows 
at  a  glance  the  small  amount  of  air 
provided  for  the  individual.  The 
next  figure,  3,  shows  a  space  of  512 
cubic  feet  as  compared  with  the  size 
of  an  ordinary  person.f  Now  many 
of  the  dormitories  of  these  tenant- 
houses  contain  about  this  amount 
of  space,  and  are  generally  occu- 

«   io— &  -y  pied  by  two  adults  and  several  chil- 

Fig.  4.  dren. 
This  engraving  (Fig.  4)  shows  the  proportion  which  1,000  cubic  feet 
bears  with  the  above,  and  this  amount  of  space  few  if  any  of  the  dormi- 
tories give  to  a  single  individual.  This  in  an  hour  would  contain  nearly 
five  times  the  amount  of  carbonic  acid,  and  soon  there  would  be  an  excess 
of  impure  air  for  each  iudividual. 


•  Outline  of  Hue  Progress  of  Sanilary  Improvement.  By  Dr.  E.  Harris.  Wiley  and 
Halstcad,  18S8. 

f  The  Builder,  Vol.  17,  page  64. 


PREVAILING  MODES  OF  CONSTRTJCTIN'Gr  TENANT-HOUSES.  259 


Figure  5  represents  a  ground  plan  of  one  of  the  prevailing  modes  of 
constructing  tenant-houses.  This  is  a  tenant-house  of  the  better  class.  Two 


i — i  <■- 


families  live  on  one  floor,  and  have  a  ite-  5. 

kitchen,  sitting-room,  and  two  bed- 
rooms, which  are  without  any  open- 
ing except  the  door  by  which  they 
are  entered.  One  family  (not  one  of 
the  poorest  class)  living  in  this  build- 
ing, was  composed  of  five  adults  and 
three  children.  Two  of  these  adults, 
one  of  whom  was  sick,  occupied  one 
bedroom,  D,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
family,  six  in  number — three  adults 
and  three  children — slept  in  the  other 
bedroom,  D,  measuring  1\  X  8-J  X  8J 
feet.  Now  there  is  only  526  cubic 
feet  of  space  in  this  room,  and  by 
careful  measurement  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  129  cubic  feet  of  this 
space  was  taken  up  by  the  bed  and 
by  old  clothes  and  rubbish  which  was 
packed  in  the  room,  so  that  these  six 
were  compelled  to  sleep  in  one  bed, 
with  an  allowance  of  about  66  cubic 
feet  of  air  in  the  room  to  each  person  !  flooe  plan. 

How  long  in  such  a  room  does  the  air  remain  free  from  a  poisonous 
effect?  And  is  it  any  wonder  that  fever,  dysentery,  and  cholera  infantum 
are  prevalent  in  such  habitations  ? 

The  following  table  will  show  the  average  cubical  feet  to  persons  living 
in  tenant-houses  in  this  district,  as  given  in  the  returns  of  Sanitary  In- 
spection : 

103  persons  have  between  200  and  300  cubic  feet. 


H_         :  :         I  - 


330 

tt 

"         300   "  400 

1,486 

it 

"         400  "  500 

2,355 

a 

"         500   "  600 

2,351 

it 

"         600   «  700 

1,689 

a 

"         700  "  800 

1,239 

it 

"         800  «  900 

903 

u 

"         900  "1,000 

1,537 

u 

"       1,000  and  more 

260 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


This  estimate  was  made  under  the  direction  of  Captain  Lord,  of  the 
Sanitary  Squad  of  the  Metropolitan  Police.  The  number  of  cubic  feet  of 
space  in  the  whole  building  was  divided  by  the  number  of  persons  living 
in  the  house.  No  allowance  was  made  for  the  halls  and  partitions  be- 
tween rooms,  nor  for  the  beds  and  other  articles  of  furniture  which  occupy 
much  space  in  all  these  domiciles.  This  would  diminish  the  amount  of 
cubic  space  nearly  one-half.  The  sleeping-rooms  of  these  houses  are 
small,  and  most  of  them  have  no  facilities  for  ventilation.  Many  of  them 
are  without  any  opening  except  the  door  by  which  they  are  entered,  this 
leading  from  a  room  in  which  they  live  and  cook  their  meals,  this  room 
seldom  being  aired.  The  closeness  and  impurity  of  the  air  in  these  apart- 
ments can  only  be  appreciated  by  a  physician  whose  duty  calls  him  to  visit 
such  places  daily.  His  first  act  on  entering  such  room  is  to  open  the  win- 
dow to  admit  the  pure  air. 

Fig.  6.  Fig.  7. 


MNMU.KI  tUated  by  means  of  a  central  ventilating  shaft; 

Tenement  with  suites  of  apartments  for  two  ventilation  of  the  sitting-rooms  aldod  by 

families  upon  each  floor,  and  with  through-and-  through  currents, 
through  ventilation. 


Another  way  of  building  which  provides  through-and-through  vcntl 


NUISANCES  THAT  PRODUCE  DISEASE. 


261 


lation,  is  represented  in  Fig.  6.  This  is  so  arranged  that  two  families  can 
occupy  one  floor,  and  each  have  a  parlor,  S,  kitchen,  K,  and  two  bedrooms 
between,  D,  D.  There  are  two  houses  in  Thirty-ninth  Street,  between 
the  Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues,  owned  by  Mr.  Connelly,  which  are  con- 
structed as  the  diagram  shows  (Fig.  7) ,  with  a  ventilating  shaft  running 
from  the  basement  to  the  roof.  Into  this  the  bedrooms  open  by  means  of 
windows.  This  plan  allows  a  certain  amount  of  ventilation  to  take 
place  ;  and  although  not  presented  as  a  model  tenement,  yet  I  think  it  is 
an  improvement  upon  the  old  way  of  building  tenant-houses. 

Privies. — The  privies  generally  stand  in  the  yard,  adjoining  the  house  ; 
one  set  of  privies  being  used  for  two  houses.  In  the  majority  of  cases 
they  are  connected  with  the  sewers.  But  there  are  also  many  which  are 
not  thus  connected,  and  these  constitute  one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  this 
city.  Many  of  them  are  allowed  to  become  full  to  the  extreme  limit 
provided  by  law,  and  remain  in  this  condition  for  weeks  before  they  are 
cleaned.  During  my  inspection  I  reported  a  number  which  were  filled, 
and  at  the  same  time  in  such  need  of  repair  as  to  hazard  the  lives  of 
those  who  entered  them.  The  proximity  of  these  places  to  the  houses 
in  many  cases  is  a  fact  to  which  I  would  call  your  attention.  One  in- 
stance of  this  kind  I  may  state :  At  a  house  in  Fortieth  Street,  be- 
tween Broadway  and  Seventh  Avenue,  the  privy  is  situated  about  10 
feet  from  the  door,  and  there  is  another  on  a  line  10  feet  from  the 
first,  and  still  another  within  10  feet  of  the  last  mentioned,  making  three 
privies  within  30  feet,  and  two  of  these  belong  to  houses  fronting  on 
Broadway.  The  offensive  odor  arising  from  these  places  contaminates  the 
air  of  the  houses  in  the  vicinity.  This  house,  in  Fortieth  Street,  is  act- 
ually unfit  to  live  in.  At  the  time  of  my  inspection  the  noxious  gases 
from  these  privies  were  strongly  perceptible  in  every  part  of  the  house. 
There  has  been  no  great  amount  of  sickness  in  this  house.  This  may 
be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  few  families  are  able  to  remain  long  in 
the  building. 

Nuisances. — The  nuisances  in  my  district  are  the  slaughter-houses, 
fat-boiling  and  gut-cleaning  establishments,  swill-milk  stables,  and 
manure  heaps.  These  all,  in  their  several  ways,  add  to  the  impurities  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  help  to  create  and  foster  disease. 

Slaughter-Houses. — There  are  23  slaughter-houses  in  my  district. 
Included  in  this  number  are  several  large  pork-packing  establishments. 
With  few  exceptions  these  places  are  kept  in  tolerable  good  order.  There 
are,  however,  several  which  are  situated  in  streets  which  are  not  sewered, 
and  the  blood  and  liquid  offal  is  conducted  by  drains  into  the  street  gutters. 
In  one  instance  in  Thirty-ninth  Street,  the  blood  and  liquid  offal  flows  the 


262  EEPOKT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  SANITARY  DISTEIC1. 


distance  of  two  blocks  before  it  empties  into  the  river.  This,  during  the 
summer  weather,  undergoes  decomposition,  which  gives  rise  to  a  very 
offensive  odor,  and  certainly  must  exert  a  very  injurious  effect  upon  the 
health  of  those  living  in  the  vicinity.  The  presence  of  slaughter-houses 
within  the  limits  of  the  city,  situated  as  they  generally  are  amid  a  crowded 
population,  cannot  but  be  objectionable  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view. 

The  Kegistrar-General  of  Great  Britain,  in  his  report  for  the  year 
1851,  exhibits  the  relative  mortality  of  different  occupations  as  compared 
with  that  of  all  England.  And  he  states,  in  remarking  on  the  posi- 
tion occupied  by  butchers :  "  This  useful  body  of  men  experiences  a 
much  higher  rate  of  mortality  than  any  other  class  except  the  licensed 
victuallers. 

"  Thus  from  the  age  of  35  to  45  the  rate  of  mortality  per  1,000  among 
farmers,  was  9  ;  carpenters  and  joiners,  10 ;  shoemakers,  11 ;  black- 
smiths, 12  ;  tailors,  14  ;  bakers,  15  ;  butchers,  17.  At  the  next  decimal 
age,  45  to  55,  the  mortality  of  butchers  was  23  ;  at  55  to  65  it  was  41, 
or  higher  than  that  of  any  other  class."  And  he  further  states  that  the 
most  powerful  cause  of  this  high  mortality  probably  depends  on  the  ele- 
ments of  decaying  matter  by  which  the  butcher  is  surrounded  in  his 
slaughter-house  and  its  vicinity.  Now  if  this  be  true,  then  it  is  certain 
that  the  presence  of  slaughter-houses  in  the  midst  of  a  large  city  must 
have  a  very  deleterious  influence  on  the  public  health.  Dr.  Stephen  H. 
Ward,  of  London,  states  he  has  "  known  houses  to  which  slaughter-houses 
were  adjacent,  in  which  scarcely  a  year  elapsed  without  a  case  of  fever 
being  developed." 

Fat-boiling  and  Gut-cleaning  Establishments. — There  are  in  my  district 
several  large  establishments  of  this  character.  These  places  constitute  the 
most  obvious  and  abominable  nuisances  in  my  district.  The  smoke  or  gas 
emitted  from  their  chimneys  spreads  itself  over  the  upper  part  of  the  city, 
and  on  days  when  the  atmosphere  and  wind  are  favorable  the  stench  is 
perceptible  for  full  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  buildings.  This  offensive 
odor  is  certainly  injurious  to  the  health  of  those  constantly  inhaling  it. 
According  to  the  City  Inspector's  report  for  1859  the  bills  of  mortality  in 
the  neighborhood  of  these  establishments  show  an  alarming  disproportion 
of  deaths  over  those  sections  of  the  city  where  they  are  not  suffered  to 
exist.  My  own  observations  have  shown  me  that  it  operates  very  un- 
favorably on  those  who  have  weak  lungs.  In  cases  of  pulmonary  disease 
it  has  an  irritant  effect,  exciting  severe  and  exhausting  fits  of  coughing. 
Some  of  these  establishments  have  existed  in  this  part  of  the  city  for  many 
years  ;  and  in  conversation  with  one  of  the  proprietors,  he  stated  that  if 
the  city  would  pay  the  loss  incurred  by  their  removal  they  would  at  once 


DISEASED  COWS. — DISEASED  MILK. 


263 


take  measures  to  leave  the  city.  Some  are  already  making  their  arrange- 
ments to  this  effect. 

Swillmilk  Establishments. — One  of  these  detestable  establishments  ex- 
ists in  my  district.  I  visited  it  during  the  course  of  my  inspection,  and 
every  facility  to  examine  it  was  afforded  me  by  those  in  cbarge.  In  these 
stables  there  were  at  the  time  of  my  visit  over  300  cows.  These  were  con- 
fined in  a  building  about  25  X  60  feet,  containing  from  20  to  24  cows  each. 
They  were  arranged  in  double  rows,  tail  to  tail,  in  stalls  about  four  feet 
in  width.  In  front  of  each  row  of  cows  there  was  a  trough  to  contain 
the  swill.  In  these  stables  a  disease  occurs  as  an  epidemic,  and  to  save 
the  cows  from  this  malady  inoculation  is  resorted  to.  "  This  is  performed 
by  cutting  a  slit  in  the  skin  of  the  animal's  tail,  and  binding  therein  a 
piece  of  the  lung  of  an  animal  that  has  died  of  this  disease.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  introduction  of  poisonous  virus  the  tail  swells,  inflammation 
takes  place,  and  not  unf'requently  the  inflammation  is  so  great  that  the  tail 
swells  to  four  or  five  times  its  natural  size,  and  has  to  be  amputated  to  save 
the  life  of  the  animal.  Hence  the  name  '  stump  tail.'  "*  Whether  this  mode 
of  proceeding  does  really  prevent  this  disease  is  somewhat  doubtful. 

The  cows  that  I  saw  at  the  time  of  my  visit  were  in  tolerably  fair 
condition,  only  a  few  "  stump  tails"  were  to  be  seen.  This  may  possibly 
be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  for  some  time  past  the  distillery  to  which 
these  stables  are  connected  has  not  been  in  operation  ;  the  swill  for  these 
animals  being  brought  from  other  distilleries,  consequently  they  do  not  get 
as  much  as  they  would  if  it  could  be  had  on  the  premises.  I  was  told 
that  the  cows  were  fed  on  but  little  swill  and  considerable  meal  and  hay. 
These  cows  are  owned  by  persons  who  reside  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
who  retail  this  unwholesome  milk  to  the  poorer  classes  who  reside  in  this 
neighborhood.  That  it  is  possible  for  cows  confined  in  crowded,  ill-ven- 
tilated stables,  and  fed  on  such  food,  to  give  forth  good  healthy  milk,  is 
manifestly  absurd.  On  the  contrary,  that  it  is  absolutely  poisonous  in  its 
effects  has  been  shown  by  the  investigations  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine  in  1857. 

Another  evil  in  connection  with  swill-milk  in  this  city  is  mentioned 
by  the  City  Inspector  in  his  report  of  1859,  and  also  by  Dr.  Percy  in  his 
paper  on  the  food  of  cities,  and  also  which  has  come  under  my  own  ob- 
servation. These  cows  are  allowed  to  remain  in  the  stables  as  long  as 
they  yield  a  sufficiency  of  milk,  usually  for  about  a  year,  after  which  they 
are  slaughtered,  and  if  the  meat  has  at  all  a  salable  appearance  it  is  put 
into  the  market  and  sold. 

*  "  Food  of  Cities,"  by  Samuel  M.  Percy,  M.  D.  Transactions  of  the  N.  Y.  State  Medi- 
cal Society,  1864. 


264  KEPOKT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  SAOTTAUT  DISTRICT. 


About  a  year  ago  I  had  an  opportunity  to  see  one  of  these  cows,  which 
was  on  the  point  of  dying  from  disease,  slaughtered,  and  on  removing  the 
hide  there  was  scarcely  any  fat  to  be  seen.  One  of  the  lungs  presented 
the  appearance  of  being  in  the  third  stage  of  pneumonia.  A  microscopic 
examination  of  a  portion  of  the  lung  showed  pus  cells  in  great  numbers. 
This  was  saved  for  the  purpose  of  inoculation.  The  liver  was  soft  and 
studded  with  abscesses.  This  animal  was  in  such  a  bad  condition  that 
its  flesh  was  pronounced  unsalable.  Other  animals,  however,  which  were 
not  quite  so  much  diseased,  were  dressed  and  ready  to  be  sold  :  of  course 
to  the  poorer  classes.  But  it  is  useless  to  dwell  on  the  evil  effects  of 
these  places.  A  total  abolition  of  them  in  this  city  and  elsewhere  is 
called  for,  for  the  sake  of  the  suffering  poor,  who  are  generally  the 
victims  to  the  effects  of  this  traffic. 

A  proper  enforcement  of  the  "  act  to  prevent  the  adulteration  of  milk 
and  the  traffic  in  impure  and  unwholesome  milk,  passed  April  23d, 
1863,"  would  entirely  suppress  this  business. 

Manure  Heaps. — Several  large  vacant  lots  are  used  in  my  district 
for  the  accumulation  of  stable-manure.  Thousands  of  loads  are  gathered 
together  upon  these  lots  and  allowed  to  undergo  the  process  of  "  rotting," 
requiring  months  to  fit  it  for  market.  To  expedite  the  process  of 
"  rotting"  gangs  of  men  are  employed  at  stated  periods  to  overturn 
the  matter,  and  to  expose  to  the  heat  and  rains  such  portions  of  the 
manure  as  may  not  have  previously  partaken  of  the  benefits  of  these 
elements.  The  stench  arising  from  these  accumulations  of  filth  is  in- 
tolerable. 

Offal  Dock. — This  is  situated  at  the  foot  of  West  Thirty-eighth  Street. 
Here  the  carcasses  of  horses,  cows,  and  other  dead  animals,  and  also 
the  offal  from  the  slaughter-houses,  are  brought  to  be  removed  from  the 
limits  of  the  city.  This  is  done  by  sloops,  which  receive  their  cargo 
during  the  day  and  remove  it  at  night.  The  lungs  and  other  useless 
material  are  required  by  law  to  be  conveyed  outside  the  Narrows  and 
thrown  into  the  water.  The  legs  of  the  larger  animals  are  removed  and 
skinned  on  the  dock.  The  tendons  are  saved  to  be  made  into  gelatine 
and  glue.    The  hoofs  are  used  in  the  preparation  of  Prussian  Blue. 

The  bodies  of  these  animals  and  part  of  the  refuse  from  slaughter- 
houses are  removed  to  a  place  on  the  Hudson  River,  opposite  Hastings. 
Here  the  animals  arc  skinned,  the  hides  salted,  and  sent  back  to  the  city 
to  bo  converted  into  leather.  Some  of  tho  bones  aro  used  to  make  but- 
tons, handles  of  knives,  and  other  useful  articles.  Most  of  them,  how- 
ever, are  converted  into  animal  charcoal.  Other  refuse  parts  of  tho  ani- 
mals are  used  in  the  preparation  of  a  patent  fertilizer. 


OFFAL,  SLATJGHTEK-PENS,  AND  FEVER. 


265 


The  butchers  are  required  by  law  to  remove  their  offal  twice  a 
day.  This  regulation,  however,  is  not  always  complied  with,  and  it  is 
alloWed  to  accumulate  in  the  slaughter-houses  until  decomposition  takes 
place  ;  it  is  then  carted  through  our  streets,  often  carried  in  open  barrels, 
which  allow  a  certain  amount  to  be  spilled  in  the  street,  emitting  a  very 
noxious  odor.  I  was  told  that  the  butchers  who  bring  offal  in  this  con- 
dition were  sometimes  arrested,  but  the  true  remedy  for  such  an  evil 
would  be  the  vigilant  eye  of  a  good  sanitary  inspector. 

The  above  nuisances,  together  with  the  only  necessary  one  the  offal 
dock,  are  situated  in  close  proximity  to  each  other,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
accompanying  diagram.* 

"Within  the  space  bounded  by  Tenth  Avenue  and  the  Hudson  Eiver, 
Fortieth  and  Thirty-seventh  Streets,  we  have  three  large  manure  yards,  a 
number  of  fat-boiling  and  gut-cleaning  establishments,  swill-milk  cow- 
stables,  and  slaughter-houses,  and  to  these  may  be  added  a  dirty  condition 
of  the  streets,  with  the  gutters  running  with  blood  and  filth,  and  the  con- 
stant passage  of  offal  and  dead  animals  to  the  offal-dock.  And  scattered 
through  the  midst  of  these  nuisances,  which  are  constantly  contaminat- 
ing the  atmosphere  with  their  noxious  exhalations,  and  surrounding 
them  on  all  sides,  are  the  crowded  and  ill-ventilated  tenant-houses. 
Cases  of  fever  are  constantly  occurring  in  this  neighborhood,  and  cholera 
infantum  and  dysentery  are  by  no  means  strangers  to  this  vicinity.  In 
short,  our  sanitary  inspection  of  this  district  has  furnished  to  our  own 
mind  abundant  evidence  that  the  primitive  condition  of  the  soil  and  the 
atmosphere  of  the  district  were  remarkably  favorable  to  health ;  while 
the  existing  local  causes  of  disease  here  are  both  numerous  and  neglected. 

Diseases. — During  the  summer  and  fall  months  typhus  fever  prevailed 
to  a  great  extent  throughout  my  district.  One  great  source  of  this  dis- 
ease was  a  fever-nest  at  No.  293  "West  Thirty-third  Street.  This  is  one 
of  a  row  of  tenant-houses  five  stories  high,  and  contains  sixteen  families. 
At  the  time  of  my  visit  (May  12th)  the  house  was  in  a  very  dirty  con- 
dition. The  supply  of  Croton-water  had  been  cut  off,  the  waste-pipes 
were  stopped  up,  and  the  sinks  emitted  a  very  offensive  odor.  Nearly 
every  person  in  the  house  had  been  sick  with  the  typhus  fever  during  the 
winter.  There  had  been  four  deaths  ;  several  patients  were  sent  from  this 
house  to  Bellevue  Hospital.  No  attempt  to  remedy  this  condition  of 
things  had  been  made  up  to  the  time  of  my  inspection. 

One  woman  who  moved  into  this  building  while  the  fever  was  pre- 
vailing, and  becoming  alarmed,  removed  to  No.  283  of  the  same  street. 
In  a  short  time  she  sickened  and  died  with  typhus. 

*  See  next  page. 


£66         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


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267 


Now  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  had  this  house  been  thoroughly 
cleansed  when  the  first  case  of  fever  appeared,  it  would  have  checked  the 
disease  and  several  lives  would  have  been  saved.  But  no  such  precau- 
tion was  taken,  and  the  fever  continued  to  spread  through  the  tenements. 

Soon  after  my  inspection  the  house  just  referred  to  was  thoroughly 
cleansed  by  the  owners,  and  I  have  heard  of  no  new  cases  occurring  there 
since. 

This  fever-nest  affords  a  striking  example  of  what  might  be  accom- 
plished in  reducing  the  mortality  and  sickness  of  this  city  by  a  well-or- 
ganized and  competent  health  department.  If,  when  the  first  case  of 
fever  occurred  in  this  building,  it  had  been  reported  by  the  attending 
physician,  and  visited  by  a  medical  inspector,  its  hygienic  wants  ascer- 
tained, and  the  owner  compelled  to  put  it  in  proper  sanitary  condition,  six 
human  lives  woidd  undoubtedly  have  been  saved,  besides  a  great  amount 
of  sickness. 

Is  it  not  a  burning  shame  that,  while  such  a  large  amount  of  money 
is  annually  spent  in  this  city  for  the  public  health,  that  typhus,  or  ship 
fever,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  can  prevail  in  one  building  for  over  four 
months,  and  yet  no  notice  being  taken  by  the  proper  authorities,  and  no 
attempt  being  made  to  stop  its  ravages  ?  Such  is  the  fact,  however,  and 
even  at  this  present  time  such  fever-nests  or  plague-spots  exist  in  many 
parts  of  the  city. 

Another  fever-nest  existed  at  No.  444  Tenth  Avenue  ;  but  at  the  time 
of  my  inspection  the  fever  had  entirely  ceased,  the  house  having  been  put 
in  a  proper  sanitary  condition.  Other  cases  of  this  fever  have  come  under 
my  observation  in  Thirty-seventh,  Thirty-eighth,  and  Fortieth  Streets. 
Nearly  all  these  cases  received  the  contagion  at  some  other  place.  Two 
cases  of  fever  in  Fortieth  Street  near  Tenth  Avenue,  occurred  in  my  own 
practice,  which  were  traceable  to  the  house  at  No.  444  Tenth  Avenue.  At 
the  present  time,  December  1864,  small-pox  is  prevailing  to  an  alarming 
extent  in  this  district,  as  it  does  in  various  other  parts  of  this  city. 

I  thus  submit  to  your  learned  body  in  this  report,  the  most  important 
subjects  that  have  come  under  my  observation  as  sanitary  inspector  of 
this  district.  In  conclusion  I  would  state  that,  in  my  opinion,  a  competent 
sanitary  board,  with  a  thoroughly  organized  system  of  inspection,  could  do 
much  toward  preventing  and  arresting  disease  in  this  city. 


EEPOKT 

OF  THE 

TWENTY-SECOND  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


R.   L.   PARSONS,   M.  D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — Bounded  north  by  Thirty-third  Street,  east  by  East 
River,  south  by  Twenty-sixth  Street,  and  west  by  Sixth  Avenue. 

Topography. — For  convenience  of  study  this  district  may  be  divided 
as  follows :  First  division  bounded  by  Twenty-sixth  and  Thirty-third 
Streets,  Lexington  Avenue  and  the  East  River ;  the  second  division 
bounded  by  Twenty-sixth  and  Thirty-third  Streets,  Sixth  and  Lexington 
Avenues. 

First  Division. — This  portion  of  the  district  is  represented  in  Viele's 
report  as  being  originally  low.  This  is  not  quite  correct.  The  space  in- 
cluded between  Twenty-eighth  and  Thirty-first  Streets,  Second  and  First 
Avenues,  has  not  been  filled  in  at  all.  The  foundation  is  in  some  portion 
at  least  rocky,  as  the  rocks  may  be  seen  cropping  out  at  some  points  be- 
tween the  same  streets  west  of  Second  Avenue.  The  natural  sanitary  con- 
dition is  not  quite  as  good ;  some  of  the  ground  has  probably  been  filled 
in,  and  the  present  surface  is  more  level,  and  not  as  well  adapted  to  drain- 
age. South  of  the  section  above  mentioned,  the  land  descends  toward 
the  south  and  east — is  lower  in  some  places,  and  has  been  filled  in.  East 
of  Second  Avenue,  and  between  Thirtieth  and  Thirty-first  Streets,  thcro 
is  a  sudden  descent ;  so  that  while  Thirtieth  Street  is  high  and  well  built, 
Thirty-first  Street  is  one  of  the  most  exceptionable  in  the  district.  The 
general  descent  of  the  surface  north  of  Thirtieth  Street  is  toward  the 
north  and  east,  a  stream  of  water  originally  running  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Fourth  Avenue  and  Thirty-second  Street  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Thirty-fourth  Street  and  the  river,  allowing  the  direction  of  the  drainage. 


FILTHy  STREETS. — HOW  KEPT  SO. 


269 


The  squares  east  of  Second  Avenue  are  the  lowest,  most  badly  drained, 
and  naturally  in  the  most  unfavorable  sanitary  condition  of  any  in  the 
district.  The  inhabitants  of  this  section  are  poor,  closely  crowded  and 
degraded,  filthy  in  their  habits  and  improvident.  The  sickness  ratio  also 
is  much  higher  here  than  in  other  portions  of  the  district ;  but  owing  to 
numerous  other  causes,  among  the  principal  of  which  are  overcrowding, 
filth  within  and  without,  and  bad  ventilation,  the  exact  influence  of  the 
first  mentioned  cause  cannot  be  justly  estimated. 

Second  Division. — The  natural  sanitary  advantage  of  this  portion  of 
the  district  is  good.  The  elevation  is  considerable,  the  descent  sufficient 
for  thorough  drainage,  and  the  nature  of  the  soil  does  not  in  any  way  in- 
terfere with  the  salubrity  of  the  district. 

Streets. — The  direction  and  width  of  the  streets  and  avenues  in  this 
district  are  in  accordance  with  the  arrangement  of  the  streets  and  avenues 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  except  that  none  of  the  streets  are  wide. 
The  condition  of  the  streets  and  avenues  varies  much  in  different  parts  of 
the  district.  In  First  Avenue  there  is  a  good  cobble-stone  pavement,  but 
it  is  usually  deeply  covered  with  mud.  The  gutters  are  also  made  the 
receptacles  of  slops  and  garbage  wherever  the  avenue  is  thickly  inhabited. 
East  of  Second  Avenue,  from  Twenty-sixth  to  Twenty-eighth  Street,  the 
streets  are  in  fair  condition,  tolerably  well  paved,  and  the  gutters  are 
Avithout  especial  obstruction.  Still  they  are  the  receptacles  of  house- 
slops,  garbage,  and  ordinary  street  filth.  Twenty-eighth  Street  near  First 
Avenue  is  sometimes  rendered  especially  offensive  from  these  causes. 
Twenty-ninth  Street  is  better,  and  Thirtieth  Street  is  generally  unexcep- 
tionable. Thirty-first,  Thirty-second,  and  Thirty-third  Streets  are  badly 
paved  with  cobble  stones,  the  gutters  are  in  bad  condition,  either  being 
obstructed  and  not  having  the  proper  descent,  or  being  irregular,  so  that 
the  stagnant  water  and  slops  stand  in  these  depressions  until  washed  away 
by  heavy  rains.  The  depressions  in  the  streets  are  in  like  manner  often 
filled  with  stagnant  water  and  decaying  garbage.  The  odor  from  this 
decaying  animal  and  vegetable  matter  is  often  offensive  in  the  extreme. 
During  the  dry  term  of  the  past  summer,  however,  the  street  filth  was  so 
thoroughly  desiccated,  that  the  offensive  exhalations  were  not  nearly  as 
abundant  as  during  the  corresponding  season  of  the  year  before. 

Second  Avenue  is  kept  in  tolerably  good  condition,  much  better  than 
are  the  streets  above  mentioned,  but  is  always  more  or  less  disfigured  by 
garbage-boxes,  and  the  gutters  are  often  used  as  receptacles  of  garbage 
and  slops.  Between  Second  and  Third  Avenues  the  condition  of  the 
pavements  and  gutters  is  very  good,  with  the  exception  of  Twenty  eighth 
and  Twenty-ninth  Streets,  which  are  more  filthy  than  the  others  ;  the  gut- 


270 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-SECOND  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


ters  being  often  obstructed  with  slops  and  garbage,  and  the  pavement  cov- 
ered with  mud.  In  Twenty-eighth  Street  the  surface  drainage  is  espe- 
cially poor. 

Third  Avenue  is  usually  kept  in  very  good  condition.  The  avenue  is 
paved  with  cobble  stone,  and  the  drainage  is  generally  good.  West  of 
Third  Avenue  the  streets  and  avenues  are,  for  the  most  part,  well  paved, 
are  free  from  nuisances,  and  the  gutters  have  sufficient  descent. 

Squares. — The  number  of  squares  in  this  district  is  55.  Of  these,  6 
may  be  considered  in  a  bad,  11  in  a  mixed,  and  the  remainder  in  a  good 
sanitary  condition.  (In  this  estimate  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  squares, 
the  obvious  conditions  of  cleauliness  or  uncleanliness,  crowding  or  the 
contrary,  &c,  are  considered,  rather  than  the  less  obvious  ones  of  the 
original  nature  of  the  ground,  and  its  subsequent  changes  by  filling  in, 
&c.) 

The  causes  which  render  squares  insalubrious,  may  be  considered  un- 
der three  general  heads :  (1.)  The  original  formation  of  the  soil,  and 
the  subsequent  changes  that  may  have  been  made.  (2.)  The  condition 
of  streets.    (3.)  The  internal  and  external  condition  of  domiciles. 

(1.)  The  original  surface  was  Ioav  and  marshy  in  the  northeastern, 
and  to  some  extent  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  district.  The  whole 
of  the  eastern  portion  is  noted  in  Gen.  Viele's  Report  as  low.  Much 
of  this  low  land  has  been  filled  in  ;  and  wherever  the  original  course  of 
the  streams  is  obstructed,  the  tendency  of  the  water  is  to  percolate  through 
the  loose  soil,  thus  making  it  damp  and  insalubrious.  This  is  more  es- 
pecially true  when  the  material  filled  in  is  composed  in  great  part  of  de- 
caying animal  and  vegetable  matter. 

(2.)  The  streets  arc  to  be  considered  as  regards  (a)  the  pavements, 
(b)  the  gutters,  (c)  the  sidewalks,  and  (d)  the  sewers. 

(a.)  Pavements  to  be  good  should  have  an  even  surface,  with  as  small 
interstices  between  the  stones  as  is  compatible  with  safety,  with  a  suffi- 
cient and  uniform  descent  from  the  middle  of  the  street  to  gutters.  In  many 
of  the  pavements  the  contrary  of  these  conditions  holds :  the  surface  is  not 
even ;  the  inequalities  forming  receptacles  for  water  and  filth  of  all  kinds ; 
the  interstices  between  the  stones  are  so  great  as  to  make  cleanliness  almost 
entirely  impracticable,  and  the  descent  to  the  gutters  is  insufficient  and 
irregular,  so  that  the  operation  of  natural  agencies  is,  for  the  most  part, 
ineffectual  in  thoroughly  washing  the  pavements.  Examples  may  be  seen 
in  Thirty-first  Street  between  First  and  Second  Avenues,  and  in  Twenty- 
eighth  Street. 

(b.)  The  gutters  have  often  in  like  manner  inequalities  in  surface,  and 
have  an  insufficient  descent  toward  the  culverts,  so  that  they  are  never 


OVERCROWDING  KILLS  CHILDREN. 


271 


thoroughly  cleaned  save  by  rains  of  more  than  ordinary  violence.  Thirty- 
first,  Thirty-second,  and  Thirty-third  Streets,  east  of  Second  Avenue,  offer 
sufficient  examples. 

(c.)  The  sidewalks  are,  as  a  general  thing,  less  objectionable  in  a  san- 
itary point  of  view,  and  might  be  kept  clean  with  ordinary  care  ;  but  in 
point  of  fact  they  are  often  so  filthy  as  to  add  to  the  other  conditions  of 
insalubrity  above  mentioned. 

(cZ.)  Sewers  are  wanting  in  some  of  the  most  densely-populated  por- 
tions of  the  district,  so  that  proper  drainage  for  the  removal  of  house- 
slops  and  the  contents  of  privies,  is  impossible. 

(3.)  Under  this  head  will  be  considered  overcrowding. 

(a.)  Overcrowding. — Apartments  are  often  so  overcrowded  that  only 
from  four  to  six  hundred  cubic  feet  of  air  is  allowed  to  each  occupant,  taking 
into  the  estimate  the  whole  suite  of  apartments  ;  and  by  night  the  number  of 
cubic  feet  to  each  individual  is  often  reduced  as  low  as  two  hundred  feet.  A 
house  with  these  overcrowded  apartments  very  often  contains  from  fifty  to 
sixty  individuals,  and  not  unfrequently  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  or  one 
hundred  and  twenty.  This  overcrowding  of  apartments  is  a  direct  and 
powerful  cause  of  the  general  deterioration  of  health  in  the  occupants. 
It  is  especially  manifested  in  the  sickness  and  death  ratio  among  children, 
who  are  almost  constantly  exposed,  and  have  less  power  of  resistance. 
For  examples  of  the  large  sickness  ratio  among  the  children  inhabiting 
these  crowded  apartments,  it  is  only  necessary  to  visit  them  and  make  a 
cursory  inspection.  And  it  may  be  added  that  of  all  the  causes  that  tend 
to  deteriorate  the  health  of  children,  this  is  probably  among  the  most  ef- 
ficient. In  addition  to  the  general  cachexia  above  referred  to,  the  occu- 
pants are  predisposed  to  contract  contagious  and  endemic  diseases  which 
they  might  escape  if  in  better  health  ;  and  when  contracted,  these  diseases 
are  rendered,  by  the  above  conditions,  more  difficult  of  control,  and  more 
fatal  in  their  results.  Thus  we  often  see  an  endemic  disease,  as  typhus 
fever,  attacking  in  succession  every  unprotected  inmate  of  an  apartment. 
But  instead  of  one  crowded  apartment  there  is  usually  a  large  number, 
so'  that  the  evil  is  multiplied  still  further.  And  not  only  this,  but  there 
are  whole  squares  filled  with  these  crowded  houses,  forming  vast  centres 
for  the  incubation  and  dissemination  of  disease.  The  remedy  is  simple, 
whether  it  be  practicable  or  not,  viz. :  the  limitation  of  the  number  of  per- 
sons occupying  apartments  and  domiciles. 

(&.)  Ventilation. — Want  of  proper  ventilation  is  an  especial  cause  of 
insalubrity  in  domiciles  occupied  by  many  families.  It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  hospitals  having  windows  on  only  one  or  on  two  contiguous  sides, 
cannot  be  well  ventilated  by  means  of  the  doors  and  windows.  These  wards 


272         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-SECOND  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


require  twice  as  much  air-space  for  each  patient  as  do  wards  having  win- 
dows on  opposite  sides ;  the  wards  themselves  being  only  of  moderate 
width.  Now,  in  almost  all  tenements  of  the  worst  class,  and  in  the  greater 
part  of  those  of  a  medium  class,  each  family  occupies  only  part  of  one 
floor.  Thus  they  have  windows  only  on  one  narrow  face,  and,  as  the 
apartments  are  ususally  heated  by  stoves,  there  is  no  adequate  means  of 
obtaining  a  current  of  air,  even  at  these  windows.  At  night  the  condition 
is  still  worse,  for  one  at  least  of  the  bedrooms  is  situated  at  the  middle  of 
the  building,  having  no  means  of  ventilation  whatever  ;  and  even  in  those 
dark  bedrooms  that  have  a  window  opening  into  the  hall,  the  condition  is 
very  little  better,  as  the  scuttle  is  usually  either  closed,  or  inadequate  in 
size  if  left  open.  The  first  step  toward  remedying  this  evil  is  to  render 
better  ventilation  possible  ;  and  that  by  means  at  once  the  most  econom- 
ical and  efficient  available  under  the  circumstances.  Considerable  ad- 
vantage in  this  direction  would  be  gained  if  the  hall  itself  were  ventilated. 
This  might  be  accomplished  by  placing  directly  over  the  hall  stairs  a  ven- 
tilator as  large  as  the  stair  space,  with  fixed  slats  so  arranged  as  to  en- 
tirely keep  out  the  rain,  and  with  the  entire  space  between  the  slats  equal 
to  the  stair  area.  The  roof  of  this  ventilator  might  be  made  of  glass, 
thus  affording  considerable  light  to  the  hall.  The  advantages  of  this  ar- 
rangement would  be,  that  the  ventilator  could  never  be  closed,  and  that  it 
would  be  sufficient  in  capacity.  Then  the  air  escaping  about  the  crevices 
or  through  the  open  doors  of  the  rooms,  heated  as  they  usually  are  by  the 
persons  of  the  inmates  or  otherwise,  would  seek  an  escape  through  the 
ventilator  in  the  roof,  and  a  current  thus  formed  would  make  the  ventila- 
tion not  only  of  the  hall  itself,  but  also  of  the  rooms  adjoining,  possible. 
The  dark  bedrooms  might,  as  they  often  do,  communicate  with  the  hall 
by  a  window,  and  some  communication  might  be  made  between  the  prin- 
cipal room  and  the  hall,  to  facilitate  its  ventilation  still  further.  An  ad- 
ditional door  for  the  principal  room,  made  entirely  of  slats,  with  a  narrow 
frame  work,  would  be  especially  desirable  in  summer.  In  winter  the  cur- 
rent of  air  in  the  hall  might  be  made  much  stronger  by  heating  the  hall 
itself,  but  this  additional  means  of  ventilation  would  probably  be  found  im- 
practicable save  in  the  better  class  of  tenements.  In  external  ventilation 
the  tenements  in  this  district  are  generally  not  deficient.  The  principal 
obstructions  are  rear  buildings.  When  these  rear  buildings  arc  them- 
selves tenements,  an  overcrowded  population  and  obstructed  ventilation 
coexist.    The  only  remedy  is  obviously  a  removal  of  tho  cause. 

(c.)  Cleanliness. — Want  of  cleanliness  is  another  great  source  of  in- 
salubrity. If  decaying  animal  and  vegetable  matter  in  streets  and  cess- 
pools is  insalubrious,  it  is  certaiuly  no  less  so  when  on  tho  stairs  of  domi- 


DOMESTIC  FILTH. — CONSEQUENCES. 


273 


ciles,  in  the  halls,  on  the  clothing  of  the  inmates,  and  on  the  beds.  In 
some  apartments  of  tenant-houses  the  rags  that  cover  the  floor  in  lieu 
of  a  carpet  reek  with  filth.  They  have  become  a  receptacle  for  street- 
mud,  food  of  all  kinds,  saliva,  urine,  and  faeces.  They  are  sometimes 
swept,  sometimes  wiped  off  with  a  wet  rag,  but  they  are  never  cleaned. 
The  bed-clothing  is  often  little  better.  The  offensive  odor  from  these 
coverings  is  sometimes  exceedingly  disgusting  and  persistent,  so  much  so 
that  when  handled  the  hands  become  so  permeated  with  the  odor  that 
notwithstanding  all  efforts  in  cleansing  they  are  rendered  positively  dis- 
gusting for  one  or  two  days  after.  Add  to  this  unclean  persons  and  un- 
clean clothes,  and  there  is  an  aggregate  of  personal  and  domiciliary  un- 
cleanliness,  of  animal  and  vegetable  poison,  in  the  highest  degree  delete- 
rious and  prejudicial  to  health. 

The  remedy  for  these  evils  must  be  in  great  part  indire'ct.  The  streets 
should  be  in  good  condition,  properly  cleansed,  and  properly  drained ; 
tenant-houses  should  have  an  abundant  water-supply  on  each  floor  ;  there 
should  be  drainage-pipes  frorn  each  floor  to  the  street-sewers  ;  the  privies 
should  be  connected  by  proper  drainage-pipes  with  the  street-sewers  ;  if 
possible  there  should  be  some  regulation  by  which  the  halls  and  common 
accessories  shall  be  kept  clean,  and  these  conveniences  and  examples  will 
act  as  a  constant  incentive  to  cleanliness  on  the  part  of  the  tenants, 
and  not  only  will  their  habits  of  cleanliness  and  their  health  be  im- 
proved but  their  self-respect  will  be  increased  and  their  moral  status 
elevated. 

(d.)  Basements  and  Cellars. — These  apartment  are  often  damp,  badly 
drained,  and  imperfectly  ventilated.  The  rooms  immediately  over  them 
are  consequently  damp  and  unwholesome,  especially  when  the  soil  is  com- 
posed of  refuse  matter. 

(e.)  Water-supply. — The  supply  of  pure  water  is  often  wanting  or 
insufficient.  Wherever  this  is  the  case  tenants  are  hot  as  cleanly  in  their 
persons  and  apartments. 

(/.)  Drainage. — This  is  still  more  frequently  wanting  or  insufficient, 
and  the  evils  arising  therefrom  are  very  serious.  Drainage  supplies  the 
only  efficient  means  for  the  romoval  of  house-slops  and  the  contents  of 
privies.  In  all  tenements  the  privies  should  be  properly  connected  with 
sewers  by  means  of  well-trapped  drain-pipes,  and  each  floor  should  so  be 
supplied  with  pipes  of  sufficient  caliber  for  the  transmission  of  ordinary 
house-slops. 

(g.)  House-slops  and  Garbage. — A  special  source  of  insalubrity  is  the 
disposition  of  house-slops  and  garbage.    In  the  greater  part  of  the  district 
lying  east  of  First  Avenue  house-slops  are  thrown  into  the  gutters,  and 
18 


274         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-SECOND  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


the  garbage  is  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  thrown  into  the  streets.  Thus 
the  streets  and  gutters  become  filled  with  decaying  matter,  the  stench  aris- 
ing from  which  on  a  hot  day  becomes  almost  insufferable.  There  are 
about  forty  garbage-boxes  in  use  in  the  district ;  and  these  afford  but 
slight  advantages  over  the  more  slovenly  method  of  throwing  the  garbage 
into  the  streets.  The  boxes  themselves  are  never  thoroughly  cleaned,  and 
of  course  the  refuse  furthest  advanced  toward  decay  remains  in  the 
boxes,  while  the  boards  of  which  the  boxes  are  composed  and  the  ground 
beneath  are  saturated  with  liquids  that  flow  from  the  garbage.  The  use 
of  barrels  as  receptacles  for  garbage  is  now  very  general,  and  as  the  bar- 
rels are  left  in  the  street  only  a  short  time,  are  often  emptied  and  are  kept 
dry  ;  this  method  is  perhaps  as  little  open  to  objections  as  any  that  can  be 
devised. 

(A.)  Privies. — In  that  part  of  the  district  occupied  by  a  tenant-popu- 
lation the  privies  are  frequently  not  connected  with  the  sewers,  and  con- 
sequently cannot  be  kept  in  good  condition.  Even  when  recently  cleaned 
they  are  very  offensive  ;  but  when  they  are  filled,  or  left  to  overflow,  as  is 
sometimes  the  case,  the  stench  becomes  almost  intolerable.  When  these 
privies  are  situated  between  front  and  rear  tenements  the  nuisance  reaches 
its  maximum  intensity,  for  occasionally  all  the  privies  used  by  from  one 
hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  are  situated  in  one  small  court 
between  a  front  and  a  rear  house.  The  obvious  remedy  for  this  nuisance 
would  be  to  have  all  privies  connected  by  properly-trapped  drain-pipes 
with  the  street  sewers. 

(j.)  Nuisances. — Under  this  head  may  be  included  nuisances  not 
otherwise  referred  to  in  the  same  square,  and  cases  in  which  the  nuisance 
is  outside  of  and  more  or  less  distant  from  the  square  under  consideration. 
In  at  least  one  case  a  stable  is  a  cause  of  insalubrity  affecting  the  square 
within  which  it  is  situated  as  well  as  contiguous  squares.  The  foul  ema- 
nations from  gas-houses  and  from  fat-boiling  establishments  are  examples 
of  neighboring  nuisances.  However,  these  are  not  to  be  found  alone  in 
this  district.  An  insalubrious  square  is  itself  a  cause  of  insalubrity  to 
squares  lying  contiguous  thereto. 

(7c.)  Bear  Buildings. — Rear  buildings,  of  whatever  character,  by  ob- 
structing external  ventilation,  act  prejudicially  to  the  health  of  those  in- 
habiting the  section  so  obstructed.  If  these  buildings  arc  inhabited,  over- 
crowding is  superadded  to  the  evils  of  defective  ventilation.  In  some 
cases  these  buildings  become  insalubrious  from  the  use  to  which  they  arc 
appropriated,  as  when  they  are  made  storehouses  of  hides  and  fat,  or  are 
used  as  butcheries  with  cattle-yards  attached,  examples  of  which  may  bo 
found  in  the  squares  included  by  First  and  Second  Avenues,  Twenty- 


REAK  TENANT-HOUSES. — FEVER-NESTS. 


275 


seventh  and  Twenty-eighth  Streets  ;  Second  and  Third  Avenues,  Twenty- 
eighth  and  Twenty-ninth  Streets. 

To  illustrate  the  relation  which 
the  conditions  ahove  referred  to 
sustain  to  the  prevalence  of  typhus 
fever  in  such  localities,  the  follow- 
ing abstract  is  here  introduced  re- 
specting the  disease  found  in  my 
inspection  of  the  rear  tenant-house 
that  is  shown  in  this  diagram  : 

"  At  No.  —  East  Twenty- 
eighth  Street,  rear,  found  7  cases 
of  typhus  at  various  visits  during 
the  summer.  The  total  number 
of  persons  residing  in  this  house  at 
time  of  last  visit  was  21  ;  number 
of  families,  8.  The  house  is  21  X 
25  feet,  is  closely  hemmed  in,  and 
can  be  reached  only  through  a  nar- 
row and  filthy  alley.  Privies  and 
sheds  fill  the  space  between  this 
and  the  tenant-house  in  front. 
Number  of  inhabitants  in  front  is 
50.  Though  the  introduction  of 
infection  from  another  house  appears  to  have  started  the  fever  in  this 
house,  local  crowding  and  filth  have  furnished  the  soil  to  perpetuate  it 
here.  The  external  ventilation  of  this  sickly  quarter  is  as  bad  as  that  of 
the  crowded  and  dingy  domiciles  themselves." 

Inhabitants. — That  portion  of  the  district  lying  east  of  Second 
Avenue,  with  the  exception  of  both  sides  of  Thirtieth  Street,  is  inhabited 
almost  exclusively  by  the  laboring  class,  and  as  a  rule  by  the  lowest  grade 
of  that  class.  The  inhabitants,  with  the  exception  mentioned,  are  almost 
entirely  Irish  and  of  Irish  descent.  All  the  avenues,  with  the  exception 
of  Lexington,  Madison,  and  Fifth  Avenues,  are  inhabited  by  the  laboring 
class  ;  the  inhabitants  of  First  and  part  of  Second  Avenue  belong  to  the 
lower,  and  those  of  the  other  avenues  to  the  better  grade  of  this  class. 

Between  Second  and  Third  Avenues  the  population  is  mixed,  the 
domiciles  ranging  from  third-class  tenements  to  very  good  private  resi- 
dences. The  private  houses  are  on  the  south  side  of  Twenty-seventh 
Street,  and  on  Thirtieth,  Thirty-first,  Thirty-second,  and  Thirty-third 
Streets.    The  greater  part  of  the  houses  on  the  four  last-named  streets 


Fever-Nests  between  First  and  Second  Avenues. 


□ 


D 


D 


i"     i     [  i     \- 1     i  ~  r 


P    A    S    S    A  G 


P 

o 
o 

0 
0 

p 

Sha/nUes 

V 

o 

o 

o 
o 

V 

High  Front  Tenements. 


276 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-SECOND  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


are  private  houses  or  first-class  tenements,  that  is,  tenements  occupied  by 
not  more  than  one  family  to  each  floor,  and  are  as  well  kept  in  every  par- 
ticular as  most  private  residences.  Between  Twenty-eighth  and  Twenty- 
ninth  Streets  there  are  third-class  tenements  that  have  been  prolific  fever- 
nests  during  the  past  summer.  Between  Third  and  Lexington  Avenues 
the  population  is  for  the  most  part  of  the  better  class.  Between  Twenty- 
sixth  and  Twenty-seventh  Streets  near  Third  Avenue,  there  are  some 
third-class  tenements.  There  are  a  few  second-class  tenements  on  Twenty- 
eighth  Street,  also  on  Thirty-Second  and  Thirty-third  Streets.  Between 
Lexington  and  Fourth  Avenues  the  population  is  of  the  better  class  with 
few  exceptions,  the  houses  being  private  or  first-class  tenements,  with  the 
exception  of  a  row  on  Thirty-second  Street.  The  remainder  of  the  dis- 
trict with  few  exceptions  contains  only  first-class  private  residences,  and 
is  inhabited  by  the  most  wealthy,  intelligent,  and  respectable  class  of 
citizens. 

Buildings. — There  are  in  this  district  1,245  private  dwellings,  768 
tenant-houses,  275  stores,  36  markets,  81  groceries  (in  all  or  nearly  all 
of  which  liquor  is  sold  to  a  greater  or  less  extent),  68  liquor  stores,  3 
foundries,  3  factories  for  planing,  mouldings,  etc.,  1  gin  distillery,  1 
brewery  and  distillery,  1  soda  fountain  factory,  1  piano  factory,  1  window 
shade  factory,  2  carriage  factories,  1  car  factory,  6  hotels,  1  police  station, 
1  asylum,  74  private  stables,  30  public  stables  (including  livery,  stage 
company  and  car  company  stables),  4  butcheries,  2  store-houses  for  hides 
and  fat,  7  churches,  3  chapels,  and  1  ward  school. 

The  general  character  of  the  private  dwellings  can  only  be  stated. 
East  of  Lexington  Avenue  about  one-half  are  nearly  new,  with  the 
modern  improvements  ;  the  other  half  are  older  structures,  and  indifferent 
in  their  surroundings  and  internal  arrangements.  West  of  Lexington 
Avenue  the  private  dwellings  are  almost  without  exception  first-class 
structures,  and  are  unexceptionable  in  their  surroundings  and  internal  ar- 
rangements. A  little  more  than  four-sevenths  of  the  dwellings  arc  private 
dwellings.  Nearly  three-sevenths  of  the  dwellings  are  tenant-houses.  In 
the  record  of  Sanitary  Inquiry  tenant-houses  are  divided  into  three  classes, 
which  are  also  designated  on  the  accompanying  maps.  These  classes  arc 
defined  as  follows  : — Class  1st.  Houses  well  built,  with  the  modern  im- 
provements, occupied  in  general  by  one  family  to  each  floor,  and  in  all 
their  apartments  and  surroundings  as  well  kept  as  neat  private  houses, 
save  that  they  arc  generally  in  more  crowded  and  less  desirable  districts. 
Class  2d.  Under  this  class  is  included  the  great  majority  of  tenant-houses, 
only  the  very  best  and  the  very  worst  being  included  under  the  first  and 
third  classes.    Class  3d.  Houses  inhabited  by  the  poorest,  most  filthy, 


FILTH,  DRAM-SHOPS,  AND  SLATJGHTER-PENS. 


277 


wretched,  and  degraded  class,  in  bad  state  of  repair,  very  filthy  within, 
and  usually  with  filthy  pestilential  surroundings. 

A  description  that  will  apply  to  the  worst  class  of  these  tenements  will 
be  found  under  the  heading  of  squares.  They  are  located  almost  exclu- 
sively in  the  eastern  part  of  the  district ;  and  in  addition  to  the  other  de- 
fect referred  to,  they  are  badly  crowded,  the  cubic  air-space  for  each  in- 
dividual varying  by  day  from  500  or  600  to  1,000  or  1,200  feet;  and  by 
night  in  the  dormitories  from  200  to  400  feet.  As  we  pass  from  the 
third  through  the  second  to  the  first  class  all  these  conditions  gradually 
change  for  the  better,  until  in  the  first-class  tenant-house  the  principal 
objection  to  be  urged  is  that  the  population  is  crowded.  The  above  divi- 
sion of  tenant-houses  would  seem  to  be  essential  to  a  proper  understand- 
ing of  the  subject ;  for  the  difference  in  sanitary  condition  between  what 
are  described  as  third  and  as  first-class  tenant-houses,  is  very  much  greater 
than  that  between  the  first-class  tenant-houses  and  the  best  private 
dwellings. 

The  rum-holes  are  about  70  in  number,  and  in  the  greater  portion  of 
them  no  especial  regard  is  paid  to  cleanliness  and  order.  Their  delete- 
rious influence  is  more  noticeable,  however,  in  their  indirect  bearing  on  the 
famiUes  and  persons  of  those  who  frequent  them  than  in  any  thing  that 
appears  about  the  liquor  stores  themselves.  These  grogshops  are  most 
numerous  in  the  most  degraded  and  overcrowded  districts. 

The  groceries,  markets,  and  stores  are  enumerated  above.  Unclean- 
liness  in  markets  and  groceries,  and  the  sale  of  unwholesome  meats  and 
stale  vegetables,  must  unfavorably  affect  the  health  of  the  districts  in 
which  they  are  situated  ;  but  facts  elucidating  these  points  have  not  been 
gathered  in  the  course  of  this  inspection. 

There  are  four  slaughter-houses  in  the  district ;  and  these  with  their 
surroundings  may  be  considered  as  especial  abominations,  though  none 
of  them  are  as  extensive  nor  as  objectionable  as  others  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  district.  Connected  with  each  of  these  slaughter- 
houses is  a  cattle-yard,  that  always  is,  and  always  must  be,  a  nuisance  to 
the  neighborhood.  The  slaughter-house  itself,  even  with  the  greatest 
care,  can  probably  never  be  kept  perfectly  salubrious.  But  the  greatest 
care  is  rarely  if  ever  taken.  Decaying  animal  matter  always  abounds, 
and  offensive  effluvia  may  always  be  observed.  The  herds  of  cattle  that 
are  driven  through  the  streets  to  reach  these  slaughter-houses,  are  an  addi- 
tional nuisance.  In  addition  to  all  this  they  must  exert  a  demoralizing 
influence,  especially  on  the  children  of  the  neighborhood,  who  are  often 
curious  witnesses  of  these  disgusting  scenes  of  blood  and  slaughter. 

The  private  stables  are  for  the  most  part  kept  in  good  condition.  This 


278         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-SECOND  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


cannot  be  said  of  some  of  the  public  stables  where  a  great  number  of 
horses  are  crowded  together,  and  where  the  stables  and  their  surround 
ings  are  often  kept  in  a  shockingly  filthy  condition.  The  Stage  Company 
stables  at  the  corner  of  Twenty-seventh  Street  and  First  Avenue,  may  be 
mentioned  as  an  example  of  the  stable  nuisance.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
square  in  which  these  stables  are  located,  complain  of  the  exceedingly 
disagreeable  odors  sometimes  coming  from  the  direction  of  these  stables  ; 
and  even  a  cursory  examination  of  the  premises  is  sufficient  to  disclose 
the  reason  why,  especially  when  the  cellars  which  are  the  receptacles  of 
the  stable  filth  are  being  cleaned,  as  they  occasionally  are.  At  such  times 
the  effluvia  in  the  neighborhood  of  these  premises  are  especially  obnox- 
ious, and  what  is  worse,  in  a  sanitary  point  of  view,  they  are  usually  borne 
in  the  direction  of  the  Bellevue  Hospital,  which  is  situated  just  across  the 
avenue  and  immediately  in  front. 

The  Bellevue  Hospital  is  situated  between  First  Avenue  and  the  river, 
Twenty-sixth  Street  and  Twenty-eighth  Street,  and  contains  1,200  beds, 
the  greater  part  of  which  are  usually  occupied.  When  first  built,  the 
hospital  was  well  located,  as  that  portion  of  the  city  was  then  uninhabited, 
but  now  the  surrounding  district  is  densely  populated,  and  stables, 
slaughter-houses,  and  factories  abound  in  that  neighborhood.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  surrounding  district  cannot  but  be  deleterious  to  the  hospital, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  close  proximity  of  a  large  hospital  injuri- 
ously affects  the  densely-populated  district  in  which  it  is  located.  Until 
quite  recently  this  hospital  has  been  the  most  prolific  fever-nest  in  the 
district,  if  not  in  the  whole  city  ;  for  not  only  were  cases  of  typhus  fever 
brought  here  for  treatment,  but  from  these  cases  the  fever  was  dissem- 
inated  throughout  the  hospital,  proving  fatal  to  patients  that  otherwise 
might  not  have  been  exposed  to  the  disease,  and  to  the  resident  physicians 
and  surgeons  of  the  hospital.  Now,  however,  the  hospital  has  been  re- 
lieved of  these  cases  by  the  establishment  of  a  fever-hospital  on  Black- 
well's  Island,  and  its  sanitary  condition  is  correspondingly  improved. 
In  general  supervision,  cleanliness  of  wards,  and  ordinary  hygienic 
measures,  there  seems  now  to  be  no  especial  call  for  change  or  improve- 
ment. 

There  are  six  churches,  three  chapels,  one  ward  school,  and  one  asy- 
lum in  the  district,  all  of  which,  as  far  as  known,  are  in  good  sanitary  con- 
dition. 

There  are  two  houses  for  the  storage  of  hides  and  fat,  which  arc  ap- 
parently kept  in  good  condition.  As  nuisances  these  would  seem  to  bo 
overshadowed  by  the  slaughter-houses  of  which  they  are  the  adjuncts. 

On  the  shore  above  Twenty-eighth  Street  the  space  is  principally 


FEVER  AND  EPIDEMICS  LOCALIZED. 


279 


occupied  by  lumber-yards,  all  of  whicb  are  in  good  sanitary  condition. 
The  vacant  lots  are  all  in  good  sanitary  condition. 

The  sewerage  is  generally  good.  Where  deficiencies  exist  in  the 
better  portions  of  the  district,  there  are  usually  private  sewers  connecting 
the  houses  with  sewers  in  adjacent  streets.  Thirty-first  and  Thirty- 
second  Streets  east  of  Second  Avenue  are  not  sewered,  though  sewers 
are  here  badly  needed.  Accompanying  this  report  is  a  map  showing  the 
sewerage  of  the  district.* 

Prevailing  Diseases. — During  the  past  season  continued  fevers  have 
been  especially  prevalent  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  district.  The  pre- 
disposing causes  have  probably  been  bad  air  from  overcrowding,  imper- 
fect ventilation,  the  filthy  condition  of  the  houses  and  their  surroundings, 
imperfect  drainage,  and  perhaps  the  nature  of  the  soil  filled  in.  The  effi- 
cient and  immediate  cause  has  been  contagion  from  persons  and  from 
fomites.  Of  this  fact  one  or  two  from  the  numerous  examples  that  offer 
are  here  subjoined.  Indeed,  in  the  examples  cited,  all  the  causes  men- 
tioned exist. 

The  rear  building  No.  —  East  Twenty-eighth  Street  is  of  brick, 
poorly  built,  four  stories  in  height,  and  consists  of  two  portions,  or  rather 
of  two  separate  buildings.  The  one  maybe  described  as  a  double  tenant- 
house,  with  four  suites  of  apartments  on  each  floor,  thus  accommodating 
sixteen  families ;  the  other  joins  at  right  angles,  and  is  similar  in  con- 
struction save  that  it  is  but  half  as  deep,  thus  accommodating  only  eight 
families.  The  ceilings  are  all  low,  especially  in  the  lower  stories,  which 
are  particularly  damp  and  unwholesome.  In  front  of  the  building  is  a 
narrow  court  and  alley-way.  The  court  contains  the  privies  for  the 
accommodation  of  all  the  tenants,  more  than  100  in  number  ;  while  be- 
tween this  court  and  the  front  houses  there  are  other  privies  for  the 
accommodation  of  those  inhabiting  the  front  houses.  The  external  ven- 
tilation at  the  front  and  one  side  is  much  obstructed,  owing  to  the 
close  proximity  of  other  buildings  ;  at  the  other  side  and  in  the  rear 
the  obstruction  is  not  quite  as  great,  though  even  here  it  is  bad 
enough. 

Previous  to  the  riots  in  the  summer  of  1863,  this  building  was  in- 
habited by  negroes  ;  but  during  the  riots  they  were  expelled  by  the  mob, 
and  after  some  slight  repairs  the  building  was  reoccupied  by  the  lower 
class  of  whites.  There  is  generally  a  large  percentage  of  sickness  in  this 
house,  especially  on  the  lower  floor,  where  the  inhabitants  are  if  possible 

*  As  the  Inspector's  map  has  not  been  engraved,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  large 
map  at  the  beginning  of  this  volume. — Editor. 


280         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTT-SECOJTD  SAiOTARY  DISTRICT. 


more  squalid  and  cachectic  than  in  other  portions  of  the  building.  This 
diagram  presents  the  ground-plan  of  this  fever-nest : 


Hides  and  Fat 

Hi  . 

1  el 

CO 

25  feet 

1 

<£> 

I 

Fever. 

8  families. 
24  feet. 

^  Court. 

.2 

Privies. 

CO 

Privies. 

Front  Tenant-Houses. 

Plan  of  the  rear  cul-de-sac  where  the  fever  occurred. 


The  first  case  of  typhus  fever  that  was  observed  here  during  the  past 
season  occurred  in  March.  From  this  patient,  a  girl  18  years  of  age,  the 
disease  was  contracted  by  two  younger  girls,  her  sisters,  and  also  by 
another  member  of  the  family.  From  these  a  woman  in  the  adjoining 
room  contracted  the  fever,  which  was  in  turn  communicated  to  her  hus- 
band and  four  children.  Still  other  cases  occurred  in  this  house,  and  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood,  that  probably  had  their  origin  from  the  cases 
above  mentioned.  The  patient  first  referred  to  contracted  the  fever  by 
visiting  at  No.  —  East  Thirty-first  Street,  a  description  of  which  with  an 
account  of  the  cases  occurring  there  is  subjoined. 

No.  —  -  East  Thirty-first  Street  is  a  single  tenant-house  only  16  or 
17  feet  in  width,  and  4  stories  in  height,  accommodating  8  families. 
In  the  size  and  arrangement  of  the  apartments  this  house  is  like  many 
others  in  the  district.  The  external  ventilation  is  good  but  the  internal 
ventilation  is  deficient.    The  street  is  not  sewered,  and  the  surroundings 


HOW  FEVER  TRAVELS. 


281 


are  usually  unwholesome.  The 
first  case  of  typhus  fever  observed 
in  this  house  was  in  the  back  room 
of  the  upper  story,  and  occurred 
in  March  last.  The  plan  of  the 
house  precludes  ventilation  of 
bedrooms.  From  this  patient,  a 
yotmg  man  18  years  of  age,  the 
disease  was  contracted  by  the 
father,  and  in  turn  by  two  broth- 
ers and  two  sisters.  The  first- 
mentioned  patient  and  his  father 


EAST 


32nd  STREET 


TF. 


0  KZ1 


EAST  31st  STREET 


died.  A  young  man  in  the  front  room,  and  also  two  women  in  the  room 
immediately  beneath,  contracted  the  fever  from  this  family.  The  young 
man  whom  I  first  mentioned  contracted  the  fever  at  No.  —  East  Thirty- 
second  Street,  from  a  family  five  members  of  which  had  already  had  the 
fever.  The  mother  of  this  last-mentioned  family  contracted  the  fever  by 
washing  the  clothing  of  a  patient  who  had  died  of  the  fever. 

Further  back  than  this  the  contagion  was  not  traced,  nor  is  it  possible 
to  say  how  many  other  cases  had  their  origin  from  those  above  enumerated. 
However,  the  inference  would  not  seem  to  be  unfair  that  many  other 
cases  did  thus  originate. 

At  No.  —  East  Twenty-eighth  Street  nine  or  ten  cases  of  typhus  fever 
occurred  during  the  past  season,  and  others  are  known  to  have  originated 
from  these.  Several  of  these  patients  died.  The  house  is  a  rear  tene- 
ment, one  suite  of  apartments  deep,  two  in  width,  and  four  stories  in 
height ;  is  poorly  built,  and  in  bad  state  of  repair.  The  stench  arising 
from  these  depositaries  of  filth  is  bad  enough  at  all  times,  but  during  the 
warm  season  it  becomes  almost  intolerable.  The  tenants  occupying  the 
lower  floors  are  often  obliged  to  keep  their  windows  closed  as  a  protection 
against  these  offensive  odors,  thus  depriving  themselves  of  even  the  lim- 
ited ventilation  they  might  otherwise  obtain. 

The  exanthematous  fevers  have  also  prevailed  during  the  past  season, 
though  not  to  an  unusual  extent.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  diseases 
of  children  and  of  the  whole  class  of  diseases  that  take  their  rise  from 
local  and  personal  uncleanlincss,  bad  ventilation,  bad  personal  habits,  im- 
perfect ventilation,  &c. 

Several  cases  of  imported  typhus  have  been  under  observation,  but  they 
were  immediately  sent  to  hospital,  and  no  other  cases  have  been  traced 
from  these. 


EEPOET 


TWENTY-THIRD   SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


ELLSWORTH  ELIOT,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries . — North  by  Fortieth  Street,  east  by  the  East  River,  south 
by  Thirty-third  Street,  and  west  by  the  Sixth  Avenue. 


Fortieth  Street. 


Thirty-third  Street. 

Topogeapiiy,  with  some  matters  relating  thereto. — That  portion  of  the 
Twenty-first  Ward  situated  between  Thirty-third  and  Fortieth  Streets, 
Sixth  Avenue  and  East  River,  which  the  Council  of  Hygiene  and  Public 
Health  designate  as  the  Twenty-third  District,  is  generally  considered  the 
healthiest  locality  in  the  city.  Within  its  limits  are  the  principal  part 
of  Murray  Hill  in  the  western  and  middle  sections ;  Dutch  Hill  in  the 
northeastern  ;  and  Kipp's  Bay  in  the  southeastern  ;  the  first  two  named 
attaining  an  elevation  of  from  thirty-five  to  seventy-five  feet  above  high- 
water  mark,  while  most  of  the  ground  adjacent  to  the  waters  of  the  bay 
is  sufficiently  elevated  and  sloping  to  admit  perfect  sewerage.  Traversed  by 
streets  which  extend  from  river  to  river  in  one  direction,  and  by  the  avenues 
at  right  angles  to  them  in  the  other,  the  freest  circulation  of  air  is  permitted, 
and  the  southwestern,  southern,  and  southeastern  slope  of  much  of  its  sur- 
face gives  the  fullest  exposure  to  the  sun.    Healthful  as  these  influences 


THE  UP-TOWN  NUISANCES. 


283 


are,  they  are  partially  counteracted  by  disagreeable  and  noxious  atmos- 
pheric contaminations  wafted  from  the  bone-boiling  and  fat-melting 
establishments  at  Thirty-ninth  Street  and  North  River  in  one  direction, 
and  at  Forty-fifth  Street  and  East  River  in  another  ;  by  the  emanations 
from  the  manure-heap  at  Thirty-eighth  Street  and  East  River  ;  from  the 
open  outlets  of  the  street  sewers ;  from  filthy  streets  and  overflowing 
privies  ;  from  large  and  numerous  droves  of  swine  which,  while  passing, 
completely  fill  the  streets,  and  put  men  and  horses  to  inconvenience  and 
sometimes  in  jeopardy ;  and  from  refuse  matter  of  infinite  variety,  and 
in  every  stage  of  decomposition. 

The  southeastern  part  of  the  district,  on  the  First  Avenue  and  the 
ground  adjoining,  has  been  recovered  from  the  river,  the  water  of  which 
penetrates  to  the  cellars  when  the  tide  is  high. 

The  square  lying  east  of  First  Avenue  between  Thirty-third  and 
Thirty-fourth  Streets  is  not  completed.  During  the  past  summer  it  was 
used  for  a  dumping  ground  for  refuse  matter  from  factories,  from  the 
streets,  and  from  every  other  source  where  a  load  could  be  obtained 
which  could  not  otherwise  be  profitably  disposed  of.  Decomposing  animal 
and  vegetable  matter  made  the  air  sickening,  and  did  not  promise  well  for 
the  salubrity  of  the  habitations  which  may  be  there  erected.  This  valua- 
ble ground  belongs  to  a  wealthy  corporation,  and  the  city  pays  six  cents 
for  every  load  dumped,  thereby  greatly  enhancing  the  value  of  private 
property,  and  at  the  same  time  paying  the  owner  for  the  transaction.  The 
business  is  generally  done  through  a  third  party  in  this  manner :  A 
person  purchases  of  the  owner  the  privilege  of  dumping  for  a  specified 
amount ;  he  then  contracts  with  the  city  authorities,  who  pay  him  a  stipu- 
lated sum  for  each  load.    My  informant  said  it  "  paid  handsomely." 

As  load  after  load  is  dumped,  large  numbers  of  women  and  children 
contend  for  bits  of  coal  and  wood,  old  clothes,  rags,  paper,  and  other  ma- 
terial of  use  to  them.  How  many  causes  of  disease  are  thus  exposed  and 
diffused  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain.  The  row  of  tenant-houses  on  the 
western  side  of  the  First  Avenue,  which  are  the  nearest  residences,  has 
an  ignoble  reputation  for  insalubrity. 

Formation  of  the  Ground,  Soil,  etc. — Different  varieties  of  gneiss  for- 
merly appeared  in  many  spots  above  the  surface,  and  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  buildings  rest  upon  this  foundation,  the  rock  being  generally  but 
slightly  covered.  Swamps  and  brooks  once  existed,  of  which  scarcely  a 
trace  remains.  Old  maps  and  pictures  show  irregularities  of  surface  dif- 
fering greatly  from  the  present  grade.  The  high  places  have  been  levelled, 
and  the  low  places  filled  to  afford  facilities  for  travellers  and  sewerage. 
One  fact  of  importance  in  this  connection  has  come  to  my  knowledge : 


284 


EEPOET  OF  THE  TWENTY-THIKD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Within  tlie  memory  of  many  people,  physicians  and  others,  intermittent 
fever  was  a  very  prevalent  disease  among  the  residents  of  Murray  Hill. 
This  has  ceased  to  exist  unless  imported ;  a  result  ascribed  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  sewers. 

The  soil  is  clayey,  tenacious,  compact,  and  sometimes  gravelly,  here 
and  there  exhibiting  the  formation  called  "  hard-pan,"  of  unusual  thick- 
ness, and  very  difficult  to  dig.  In  its  structure  are  found  fragments  of  all 
the  rocks  of  the  Hudson  River  valley,  and  the  boulders  were  more  numer- 
ous and  larger  than  in  any  other  portion  of  the  island,  the  neighborhood 
of  Corlaer's  Hook  excepted. 

Street-cleaning. — Sidewalks:  their  encumbrances,  and  other  matters  per- 
taining to  these  subjects,  etc. — As  the  grade  in  almost  every  street  ascends  or 
descends  upon  almost  every  block,  unusual  facilities  are  afforded  for  cleaning. 
There  is  no  crowding  for  business  purposes,  such  as  necessarily  exists 
in  some  of  our  thoroughfares  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  markets,  re- 
quiring the  constant  use  of  the  shovel  and  broom  to  remove  the  filth. 
The  trap-block  pavement  has  been  laid  in  many  of  the  streets,  which  can 
be  kept  nearly  as  free  from  dirt  as  the  sidewalk.  Still  there  is  not  a  block 
in  the  district  which  the  city  properly  cleans.  It  frequently  happens  that 
a  gang  of  men  sweep  the  thickest  of  the  dirt  into  piles ;  the  cart  does  not 
follow  to  remove  it  until  a  day  or  more  afterwards.  Meanwhile  it  is 
scattered  more  or  less  by  the  wind,  by  wheels,  and  animals.  At  length 
a  portion  is  taken  away,  and  the  street  is  soon  as  filthy  as  ever.  In  dry 
and  windy  weather  the  dust,  composed  of  pulverized  animal  excrement 
and  other  irritating  substances,  rises  in  suffocating  clouds,  causing  not 
only  great  inconvenience  to  persons  in  the  street,  but  penetrating  the 
houses  and  soiling  every  thing  therein.  In  wet  weather  the  pedestrians 
must  carefully  select  a  place  to  cross,  and  then  use  the  utmost  precaution 
to  prevent  slipping  and  falling.  In  winter  the  snow  and  ice  are  allowed 
to  lie  in  heaps,  filling  the  gutters,  so  as  to  turn  the  water  in  melting 
weather  upon  the  sidewalks  to  freeze  there. 

This  condition  of  the  streets  has  compelled  the  citizens  to  resort  to 
private  enterprise.  Portions  of  many  of  them  are  swept  every  morning, 
and  on  Saturday  afternoons.  The  snow  is  levelled ;  the  gutters  are  kept 
opened  ;  the  sidewalks  arc  cleaned  ;  the  sprinkling  cart  is  unknown,  for  a 
searching  wind  finds  no  dust.  The  expense  is  defrayed  by  the  voluntary 
payment  of  one  dollar  a  month  for  each  house,  and  a  smaller  amount 
would  suffice  if  all  contributed,  and  there  were  no  vacant  lots.  This 
plan  has  been  followed  for  nearly  three  years  in  West  Thirty-sixth  Street 
between  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues,  under  the  almost  daily  observation  of 
the  undersigned,  and  has  given  so  much  satisfaction  that  the  example  has 


FILTHY  PLACES  AND  GKOSS  ABUSES. 


285 


been  successfully  imitated  in  other  localities.  The  cleanliness  excites  the 
admiration  of  all  non-resident  observers,  and  applications  are  constantly 
made  to  the  person  having  the  matter  in  hand  to  extend  his  ministrations 
to  the  streets  where  they  reside.  One  great  source  of  filth  in  the  streets 
is  connected  with  the  manure  heap.  This  feature  of  the  district,  before 
referred  to,  is  situated  between  Thirty-eighth  and  Thirty-ninth  Streets, 
First  Avenue  and  East  River.  Large  portions  of  the  squares  adjoining 
are  also  used  for  the  same  purpose.  Hundreds  of  loads  of  manure  are 
daily  brought  from  the  stables  in  different  parts  of  the  city ;  putrefaction 
is  excited  as  much  as  possible  in  the  constantly-increasing  heap,  and  at 
the  proper  season  the  compost  is  shipped  for  use  in  the  country.  The 
carts  which  gather  the  material  are  generally  small  and  loosely  con- 
structed. Upon  them  the  manure  is  piled  until  no  more  can  be  retained. 
As  the  driver  proceeds  to  headquarters,  the  jolting  shakes  off  no  small 
portion,  leaving  his  track  wherever  he  goes.  A  single  cart  load  fouls  a 
street  just  cleaned,  and  a  constant  procession  of  them  makes  cleanliness 
impossible. 

The  grocers,  oystermen,  and  other  dealers,  throw  their  refuse  into  the 
streets  with  impunity.  Their  premises  are  frequently  marked  by  perished 
vegetables,  rotten  fruit,  and  oyster  shells  before  their  doors.  As  early  as 
the  year  1656,  when  the  population  was  about  one  thousand,  the  outskirts 
of  the  city,  in  the  vicinity  of  Wall  Street,  and  beyond  that  line  was  a  wil- 
derness, "  the  burgomasters  enacted  orders  against  casting  filth  into  the 
streets."  If  in  those  days  there  existed  a  necessity  for  such  orders,  in  our 
time  the  population,  increased  nearly  a  thousand  fold  in  number,  and 
greatly  in  density,  should  make  such  orders  imperative. 

The  sidewalks  should  receive  more  attention  than  is  now  bestowed 
upon  them.  In  many  instances  they  correspond  to  the  palatial  residences 
before  which  they  are  placed.  One,  two,  or  three  large  flags  cover  the 
entire  surface  ;  and  for  blocks  there  is  no  unevenness  which  can  prevent  a 
sure  foothold,  but  there  are  many  places  where  irregularity  of  surface  ren- 
ders walking  a  guarded  process.  The  paver  will  relay  a  portion  and 
leave  an  edge  several  inches  above  the  adjoining  flags,  against  which  the 
foot  strikes,  and  sprains  and  even  broken  bones  are  the  result.  Occa- 
sionally for  weeks  the  builder  takes  possession  of  the  sidewalk  and  the 
contiguous  side  of  the  street,  which  compels  the  pedestrian  to  betake  him- 
self to  the  carriage-way,  or  to  the  other  side,  if  this  be  not  in  the  same 
condition.  Remonstrance  is  useless.  The  complainant  is  told,  with  a 
smile  partially  suppressed,  "  to  take  his  time  and  go  round." 

It  is  the  practice  to  place  garbage-boxes  and  ash-barrels  upon  the  side- 
walk, and  their  contents,  the  accumulation  of  days  and  perhaps  weeks, 


286 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


are  often  of  a  character  to  infect  the  atmosphere  for  a  long  distance. 
These  hoxes  are  constructed  of  wood,  and  placed  in  the  situation  intended, 
where  they  remain  until  worn  out,  knocked  to  pieces,  and  stolen  for  fire. 
A  peculiarity  in  the  construction  of  one  of  them  deserves  a  passing  notice. 
The  lower  part  is  filled  with  heavy  stones,  above  which,  perhaps  fifteen 
inches  from  the  bottom,  is  the  floor.  Thus  made,  it  is  immovable  ;  but 
the  floor  not  being  tight,  the  stony  foundation  is  the  receptacle  for  nearly 
all  the  b'quid  filth.  As  a  rule,  garbage-boxes  are  far  from  being  tight,  as 
the  dirt  in  proximity  indicates.  They  are  frequently  filled  to  overflowing, 
and  when  the  contents  are  removed  it  is  done  incompletely. 

If  in  every  residence  proper  metallic  receptacles  were  provided  for 
solid  and  liquid  refuse  ;  if  it  were  made  contrary  to  law  to  place  them 
upon  the  sidewalks,  but  left  to  the  ash-men  to  remove,  clean,  and  return, 
the  cleanliness,  comfort,  and  health  of  the  city  would  be  increased  to  a 
wonderful  extent. 

The  watering-troughs  constitute  another  encumbrance  to  the  side- 
walks, and,  as  present  constructed,  they  are  the  centres  of  dampness, 
stagnant  water,  mud,  and  filth. 

Inhabitants  and  Occupations. — The  lower  floors  of  the  buildings 
on  the  Sixth,  Third,  Second,  and  First  Avenues,  are  used  as  stores,  and 
families  usually  of  foreign  extraction  occupy  the  floors  above.  "West  from 
Third  Avenue  are  the  residences  of  the  wealthy,  unsurpassed  in  the  city. 
East  from  this  avenue  tenant-houses  predominate,  inhabited  chiefly  by 
people  of  foreign  birth.  One  locality  in  the  northeastern  section  is  given 
up  to  shanties,  the  occupants  being  squatters,  also  born  abroad.  The  east- 
ern limit  of  Dutch  Hill  (for  so  this  place  is  called)  is  a  precipice  thirty 
feet  or  more  in  height,  without  any  protection  from  falling ;  its  almost 
perpendicular  side  corresponds  to  the  line  of  First  Avenue,  and  on  its 
brink  terminate  abruptly  East  Thirty-ninth  and  East  Fortieth  Streets. 
These  people  find  employment  in  the  quarry  and  manure  heap  near  their 
homes.  They  possess  cows,  swine,  goats,  and  fowls,  in  large  numbers. 
The  women,  boys,  and  some  of  the  men,  arc  volunteer  assistants  to  the  city 
inspector.  They  may  be  daily  seen  with  their  carts  drawn  by  themselves 
and  their  dogs  ;  or,  if  fortune  has  more  signally  favored  them,  a  rickety 
wagon,  drawn  by  a  decrepit  horse  with  harness  of  somewhat  primitive 
construction,  facilitates  their  labors.  Going  from  house  to  house  they 
ransack  the  ash  barrels,  and  beg  the  swill  and  other  kitchen  refuse  to  supply 
food  for  their  cows,  pigs,  and  goats.  It  is  said  that  they  sometimes  steal. 
Here  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  cow's  milk  from  this  source  commands 
a  high  price  because  furnished  from  a  single  cow ;  the  purchaser  not  con- 
sidering how  the  animal  is  fed. 


POISONOUS  GASES  AND  EMANATIONS  IN  DWELLINGS.  287 


Some  facts  in  regard  to  the  construction  of  dwellings. — In  the  construc- 
tion of  residences,  whether  for  single  families  or  on  the  tenement  plan, 
little  attention  is  paid  to  the  health  of  the  occupants.  Any  thing  which 
contributes  to  show  is  not  neglected,  while  parts  not  exposed  to  inspec- 
tion, parts  which  can  be  covered  up,  are  slighted.  As  an  illustration  of 
this  statement,  the  plumbing  of  a  house  erected  in  1857,  at  a  cost  of  $30,- 
000,  was  constructed  without  suitable  traps,  so  that  there  was  no  obstacle 
to  the  emanations  from  the  sink  and  water-closet.  A  child  sickened  and 
died.  The  other  children  and  women  of  the  house  did  not  escape  serious 
sickness  ;  the  symptoms  in  each  case  being  those  which  characterized  the 
National  Hotel  disease  at  Washington — vomiting,  purging,  and  great  pros- 
tration. At  no  inconsiderable  expense  and  trouble  the  proper  additions 
were  made  to  the  waste-pipes,  and  that  plague  was  stayed. 

In  some  places  the  grade  of  the  street  is  so  far  above  the  original  level 
that  no  excavation  is  needed,  and  it  may  be  necessary  to  fill  in.  Specula- 
tors are  not  particular  about  the  materials  used.  Most,  if  not  all,  of  the 
English  basement  houses  have  no  cellars.  The  foundations  are  laid,  and 
at  the  proper  depth,  the  lowest  floor  several  feet  from  the  ground.  Here 
is  an  extensive  vacant  space  for  air,  it  may  be  foul  and  damp,  the  sole 
escape  for  which  is  through  the  cracks  of  the  floor,  or  along  the  course 
of  the  water  or  waste-pipes  to  the  apartments  above.  Is  it  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  inexplicable  types  of  fever  prevail,  or  that  some  houses  are 
regarded  as  unhealthy  ? 

The  sewer  of  a  house  is  a  concealed  matter.  In  several  houses  con- 
structed as  above  described,  wet  earth  was  thrown  up  to  make  the  eleva- 
tion sufficient,  and  upon  it  in  frosty  weather  a  brick  sewer  was  built.  The 
warmth  of  spring  produced  an  upheaval,  the  bricks  separated,  the  rats  in 
crowds  took  possession,  enlarging  the  openings,  and  the  house  was  filled 
with  such  odors  as  might  be  expected.  The  floors  were  torn  up,  for  there 
was  no  other  way  of  reaching  the  sewer,  which  was  removed,  and  another 
substituted.  I  am  inclined  to  the  belief  that  there  is  scarcely  a  house  in 
which  poisonous  air  does  not  escape  from  the  gas,  furnace,  or  soil  pipes  ; 
and  as  these  are  generally  covered,  it  is  very  difficult  to  find  the  leak ; 
and  when  discovered,  the  defect,  which  might  easily  have  been  prevented, 
is  remedied  at  much  inconvenience.  To  save  expense,  it  has  been  the 
custom  to  make  a  single  connection  with  the  street  sewer  for  several 
buildings.  The  results  of  an  obstruction,  partial  or  complete,  near  the 
outlet,  are  experienced  in  all,  and  before  it  is  removed  the  occupants  may 
be  subjected  to  a  vitiated  atmosphere  from  an  unknown  source  for  days 
and  even  weeks.  It  follows  that  every  building  should  have  its  drain- 
pipe separate  ;  through  which  should  flow  not  only  all  the  waste  water  and 


288  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-THIRD  SANTTAItY  DISTRICT. 

excrement,  but  the  rain  falling  upon  the  roof  should  be  conducted  through 
the  leader  thereto,  and  not  allowed  to  flow  over  the  sidewalk,  as  is  fre- 
quently the  case,  making  it  wet  in  the  warm  seasons,  icy  in  winter,  and 
slippery  in  all  stormy  weather. 

The  tenant-houses  of  my  district  are  built  in  the  usual  fashion,  which 
i3  so  well  understood  that  a  particular  description  is  needless.  People 
cannot  live  in  them  without  impairing  their  health,  and,  perhaps,  endanger- 
ing their  lives  ;  and  what  is  of  equal  importance,  all  their  surroundings 
contribute  to  the  development  of  depravity.  Good  air  and  cheerful  apart- 
ments are  as  necessary  to  the  formation  of  the  moral  character,  as  sun- 
shine and  proper  soil  to  vegetation. 

An  example  of  crowded  tenant-houses  in  a  bad  condition  is  found  at 
the  eastern  foot  of  Murray  Hill,  corner  of  Thirty-seventh  Street  and  Third 
Avenue.  To  its  occupants  the  house  No.  115  East  Thirty-seventh  Street 
is  known  as  "  The  Great  Eastern."  *  In  front,  on  the  east  side  of  Third 
Avenue,  are  Nos.  523,  525,  527,  and  529,  the  lower  floors  of  which  are 
occupied  for  business  purposes,  and  above  are  from  two  to  four  families 
on  each  floor.  In  the  rear  of  527  and  529,  and  directly  in  the  rear  of 
"  The  Great  Eastern,"  from  which  it  is  separated  by  an  area  20  feet  in 
width,  is  another  tenant-house.  The  space  intervening  between  the  front 
and  the  rear  houses  is  crowded  with  offensive  and  neglected  privies. 

The  census  of  these  tenant-houses,  and  of  that  of  the  house  on  Thirty- 
seventh  Street,  is  as  follows  : 


Street  Number. 

Number  of  families. 

What  stores  and  shops 
on  first  floor  of  these 
houses. 

|  Number  of  inhabitants 

Number  under  10  years' 
of  age. 

M 

if 
o 
a 

h 

« 

a 
1 

Deaths  in  six  months. 

Number  in  basement. 

No.  115  E.  87th  St. 

"  528  8d  Avenue 
»  625  " 
"  527 
«  529  " 
"  527  Rear 
il  629 

22 

8 
17 
8 
8 
4 
6 

Second-hand  Clothing  and  Tailoring  In 

basement.  j 
Liquor  store  on  lower  floor. 
Shoo  store  on  lower  floor. 
Liquor  store  on  lower  floor. 
Plumber  and  metal  roofer  on  lower  floor. 

90 

80 
65 
89 
40 
25 
28 

81 

11 

28 
18 
14 
15 
11 

8 

3 
8 
1 
2 
2 
1 

1 

8 
1 

1 

8 

Water  In  cellar. 
2 

Total 

72 

812 

123 

16  |  6 

10 

A  large  part  of  the  ground  between  the  buildings  is  devoted  to  the 
privies,  a  cloacal  sea  of  indefinite  extent,  the  contents  of  which  are  dis- 
cernible between  the  dilapidated  planks  which  cover  it.    During  the  hot 


•  Sec  the  ground-plun  and  a  bird's-eye  view  of  these  houses  upon  opposite  page. 


290 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-THIRD  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


weather  of  summer  the  stench  was  well-nigh  intolerable.  There  is  filthy 
water  in  the  basement  of  527  rear  building,  supposed  to  come  from  the 
privy  sink.  These  premises  become  worse  every  year.  When  the  vacant 
spaces  near  these  houses  shall  have  been  built  upon,  as  in  other  parts  of 
the  city,  then  it  will  become  a  favorite  haunt  of  pestilential  maladies.  It 
is  not  yet  a  very  sickly  quarter. 

During  the  past  season  I  have  made  numerous  examinations  of  these 
buildings,  and  at  every  visit  have  discovered  that  the  flat  roof  of  "  The 
Great  Eastern "  was  used  as  a  privy,  and  was  informed  that  it  was  cus- 
tomary to  empty  vessels  containing  human  excrement  and  other  filth 
upon  it.  During  the  warm  season  there  is  a  larger  percentage  of  sick- 
ness than  we  have  presented  in  the  foregoing  table.  It  will  be  observed 
that  as  given  in  the  table,  which  is  below  the  actual  average  for  the  year, 
the  sickness-rate  is  five  per  cent.,  while  the  deaths  have  occurred  at  the 
rate  of  1  in  52  in  six  months,  or  1  in  26  yearly. 

One  of  the  principal  defects  in  the  management  of  these  tenements  is 
the  lack  of  proper  supervision.  The  owner  frequently  sub-lets,  or  employs 
an  agent.  Were  he  compelled  to  place  his  property  in  charge  of  some 
one  who  should  reside  on  the  premises  and  act  as  janitor,  and  should  he 
then  make  frequent  visits  to  look  after  the  interest  of  those  whom  he 
should  consider  as  placed  under  his  protection,  an  improvement  would  re- 
sult. In  going  from  one  of  these  habitations  to  another,  it  is  shock- 
ing to  observe  the  manner  in  which  the  human  excrements  are  dis- 
posed of.  Some  throw  the  contents  of  chamber  vessels  from  the  win- 
dows ;  others,  near  the  roof,  deposit  there.  Many  of  the  privies  cannot 
be  approached.  Some  are  locked,  but  one  is  commonly  open  for  emp- 
tying vessels,  and  the  floor,  the  seat,  and  the  ground  near  the  entrance,  is 
covered  with  excrement. 

Special  provision  by  the  city  for  the  preservation  of  the  health,  and  the 
prevention  of  disease. — The  immediate  care  of  the  health  of  the  Twenty- 
first  Ward,  in  which  is  included  the  Twenty-third  District,  is  placed  in  the 
charge  of  two  officials,  called  the  health  warden  and  assistant  health  war- 
den. They  receive  a  handsome  remuneration  for  their  services — in  former 
years  three  dollars  a  day  ;  now,  perhaps,  increased.  The  present  incum- 
bents arc  rumsellcrs  ;  and  if  this  avocation,  pursued  for  a  lengthy  period, 
qualifies  them  for  the  proper  discharge  of  their  duties,  they  may  justly 
claim  competence,  for,  according  to  the  directories,  they  have  kept  grog- 
gerics  for  many  years.  Their  official  duties,  I  am  told,  do  not  prevent 
them  from  a  close  attention  to  business  ;  nor  do  I  find  that  they  arc  fre- 
quent visitors  in  any  portion  of  the  ward.  Few  people  have  ever  seen 
tliom,  and  to  many  their  existence  is  unknown. 


EEPOET 


OF  THK 

TWENTY-FOURTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


ROBERT   STEWART,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — This  district  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  south  side 
of  Fiftieth  Street,  south  by  the  north  side  of  Fortieth  Street,  east  by  the 
west  side  of  Sixth  Avenue,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Hudson  Biver.  The 
district  comprises  a  southern  section  of  the  Twenty-second  Ward. 

There  are  11  streets  and  6  avenues  in  this  district.  The  number  of 
squares  with  street  boundaries  is  68.  There  are  2,423  buildings  in  the 
district  occupied  as  dwellings.  In  order  to  describe  these  as  accurately 
as  possible,  I  will  divide  them  into  three  classes. 

First  Class. — Those  occupied  by  one  family.  There  are  of  this  class 
1,129  ;  387  of  these  are  built  of  brick  with  brown-stone  fronts,  442  brick 
with  brick  fronts,  300  wood  with  wooden  fronts.  The  brown-stone  and 
brick  fronts  are  all  first-class  residences,  but  the  wooden  buildings  are 
varied,  ranging  from  the  beautiful  dwelling  neatly  painted  and  richly  or- 
namented, to  the  first-class  shanty.  It  was  not  my  privilege  to  inspect 
many  of  these  buildings,  nevertheless,  when  the  occupant  was  a  tenant, 
I  heard  many  complaints  of  defective  sewerage  and  plumbing,  overflow- 
ing privy  vaults,  etc.,  showing  very  clearly  that  what  wc  call  first-class 
residences  would  be  none  the  less  comfortable  for  a  little  attention  from 
an  honest  "  health  warden"  who  was  qualified  to  give  advice  on  sanitary 
matters. 

Second  Class. — Those  occupied  by  two  or  more  families,  commonly 
called  "  Tenant-Houses."  There  are  of  this  class  1,126  buildings  ;  119 
of  these  are  on  the  rear  of  the  lot,  two  buildings  on  one  lot,  42  of  these 
are  constructed  of  brick  with  brown-stone  fronts,  620  of  brick  with  brick 


292         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


fronts,  308  are  wooden  buildings  ;  these  are  generally  very  poor  houses, 
and  it  is  not  over  stating  the  case  to  say,  that  they  should  all  he  present- 
ed as  nuisances. 

The  tenant-houses  of  this  district  are  built  to  accommodate  two  fam- 
ilies on  a  floor.  There  are  but  few  exceptions  to  this  rule,  the  average 
number  of  families  is  six  to  a  house.  Generally,  these  houses  are  kept  in 
a  filthy  condition  by  the  occupants  ;  the  halls  are  miniature  streets,  and  the 
same  nuisances  are  found  existing  as  in  the  streets,  the  swill-pail  taking  the 
place  of  the  garbage-box,  wet  halls  and  stairs  in  lieu  of  muddy  gutters. 

The  contents  of  the  swill-pail  is  a  mixture  of  swill,  ashes,  and  the 
contents  of  the  chamber-pot.  The  odor  emitted  from  these  vessels  is  of 
the  most  offensive  and  poisonous  character.  If  the  occupants  sicken  with 
any  of  the  severe  forms  of  acute  diseases,  death  is  almost  the  necessary 
consequence.  It  must  be  admitted  that  there  are  some  exceptions  to  the 
above  general  statement ;  and  I  am  happy  to  note  the  fact,  for  it  only  goes 
to  prove  that  filth  and  stench  are  not  a  necessary  consequence  in  a  tenant- 
house.  I  have  visited  houses  where  every  thing  was  found  in  the  best 
order,  and  this,  too,  in  houses  of  the  same  construction,  division,  and  num- 
ber of  square  feet  to  a  family,  as  those  that  are  most  miserably  kept.  I 
do  not  wish  the  inference  drawn  that  I  maintain  that  tenant-houses  are  as 
a  class  well-constructed  and  ventilated ;  nevertheless  I  do  maintain,  that 
the  differences  which  we  meet  with  as  regards  cleanliness,  are  due  in  a 
great  measure  to  the  habits  of  the  occupants.  For  instance,  there  is  in 
West  Forty-first  Street  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  Avenues  (a  miserably 
filthy  block),  a  house  built  on  100  feet  square  of  ground.  This  house  has 
been  occupied  the  past  summer  by  64  families — 62  German  and  2  Irish. 
I  visited  this  house  during  the  month  of  September ;  the  people  opened 
their  apartments  to  me,  and  seemed  proud  to  have  them  examined.  I 
found  the  halls  clean,  no  obstructions,  no  unpleasant  odor,  the  rooms 
were  tidy,  and  I  found  it  pleasant  to  rest  in  them.  There  had  not  been  a 
death  during  the  summer,  and  but  one  or  two  cases  of  sickness,  and  that 
of  a  mild  character. 

Third  Class. — All  that  class  of  dwellings  scattered  irregularly  around, 
without  reference  to  lot  or  to  street  boundaries,  I  call  shanties.  They  are 
one  story  usually,  with  but  one  room,  neither  ceiled  nor  lined  ;  some  have 
a  wooden  floor,  others  none  ;  in  short,  they  arc  very  uncomfortable  looking 
affairs.  There  arc  of  this  class  of  buildings  156  ;  Irish  and  German  rag- 
pickers and  cinder  gatherers  arc  the  occupants.  These  people  are  em- 
phatically "squatters."  The  New  York  Times  of  November  21st,  says: 
"  It  is  estimated  by  those  who  are  perfectly  competent  to  judge,  that  there 
is  a  population  of  20,000  on  this  island  that  pay  neither  rent  for  the  dwell- 


SQUATTER  SOVEREIGNTY,  IMMORALITY,  AND  INSALUBRITY.  293 


ings  they  occupy  nor  municipal  taxes  as  holders  of  real  estate.  They 
comprise  that  portion  of  the  population  known  as  squatters.  In  one  ward 
which  we  need  not  name,  they  combined  a  year  or  two  ago  in  sufficient 
numbers  to  control  the  election  for  alderman  and  councilmen.  "We  are 
not  altogether  sure  that  they  cannot  control  the  majority  of  votes  in  the 
same  ward  to-day." 

There  is  no  parallel  to  this  state  of  things  in  the  history  of  a  civilized 
community  calling  itself  a  city.  These  20,000  exempts,  as  we  saw  the 
other  day,  exercise  by  favor  of  the  Common  Council  the  right  of  free  pas- 
ture for  cows,  goats,  and  pigs.  The  public  pound  has  been  voted  a 
nuisance,  the  keepers  thereof  a  double-distilled  nuisance.  Absolved  from 
the  duty  of  paying  house-rent,  relieved  from  the  burdens  of  municipal 
taxation — so  trying  to  the  temper  of  freemen  in  all  countries — this  es- 
pecially favored  class  of  householders  also  claim  the  right  of  carrying  on 
the  pork  and  dairy  business,  at  the  expense  of  the  municipality,  and  to 
the  disadvantage  of  those  who  love  cleanliness,  quiet,  and  comfort. 

Our  exempted  population  moreover  demand  of  us  even  more  than  this 
in  the  way  of  accommodation.  The  "  freedom  of  the  city"  they  hold  to 
embrace  not  merely  the  privilege  of  living  rent  free,  of  paying  no  city 
taxes,  and  of  feeding  their  pigs,  cows,  and  goats  in  their  neighbor's  back 
yards,  and  on  the  common  thoroughfare,  but  likewise  the  right  of  revis- 
ing the  general  municipal  surveys.  Let  any  one  sceptical  on  this  point 
take  a  cursory  glance  say  at  Fifth  Avenue,  opposite  Central  Park,  on 
that  high  ground  which  promises  to  be  in  a  few  years  the  most  magnifi- 
cent terrace  on  the  continent,  and  he  will  find  that  the  dwellings  of  the 
"  exempt  "  population,  at  frequent  intervals,  hold  possession  of  the  public 
highway.  At  sundry  points  they  take  half  the  carriage  road,  the  owners 
no  doubt  holding  to  the  view  that  where  a  dung-cart  can  pass  along,  there 
is  ample  accommodation  for  any  other  species  of  vehicle. 

We  need  hardly  tell  the  owners  of  real  property  on  this  island,  that 
the  mere  fact  of  this  class  being  above  the  weakness  of  paying  either 
rent  or  taxes,  is  by  far  the  smallest  part  of  the  burden  they  impose  upon 
the  responsible  citizens.  The  depreciation  in  the  value  of  real  property 
in  the  neighborhoods  we  speak  of  is  beyond  calculation,  not  merely  from 
the  fact  that  the  grading,  draining,  causewaying,  and  paving  in  up-town 
districts  is  delayed  by  the  free-tenement  system,  but  from  the  still  graver 
fact  that  in  point  of  social  order,  obedience  to  the  law,  and  pcacable  cit- 
izenship generally,  the  exempt  districts  bear  an  atrociously  bad  character. 

Out  of  every  seven  squatter-tenements  it  can  be  shown  that  five  are 
unlicensed  groggeries,  that  on  Sundays  and  other  holidays  they  are  the  re- 
sort of  the  vilest  and  lowest  characters  of  both  sexes,  and  that  they  serve 


294        REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT 


the  purpose  of  repositories  for  petty  thievings  from  one  end  of  the  island 
to  the  other,  besides  being  nurseries  for  juvenile  criminals  of  a  more 
dangerous  class  than  those  bred  in  the  crowded  haunts  down  town. 

Such,  in  effect,  is  the  testimony  of  an  officer  of  long  experience  ;  and 
apart  from  the  character  of  the  witness,  we  are  prepared  from  personal 
observation  to  give  it  full  credit. 

Stores. — There  are  803  stores  in  this  district ;  141  of  these  are  for 
the  sale  of  liquor,  most  of  the  "  gin-mill  order." 

Manufactories. — There  are  96  manufacturing  establishments  in  this 
district. 

Stables. — There  are  132  stables  in  this  district — 117  private,  and  15 
livery  stables.  I  found  no  cases  of  sickness  that  would  be  directly  attrib- 
uted to  the  stables.    They  were  generally  in  good  order. 

Slaughter-Houses. — There  are  17  slaughter-houses.  Two-thirds 
of  these  buildings  are  but  poorly  constructed  for  the  purpose  for  which 
they  are  used,  and  as  a  consequence  are  not  kept  in  good  order.  The 
drains  in  most  instances  lead  into  the  street  gutters  instead  of  the  sewer ; 
this  is  the  principal  difficulty.  In  Forty-sixth  Street,  between  Tenth  and 
Eleventh  Avenues,  I  found  the  most  filthy  one  :  it  is  built  on  the  rear  of 
the  lot,  the  drainage  is  over  the  surface  of  the  yard  over  the  sidewalk  into 
the  street  gutter,  where  the  blood  is  mixed  with  water ;  it  then  runs  two- 
thirds  of  the  entire  block  before  it  finds  its  way  into  the  inlet  of  the  sewer. 
The  children  of  the  neighborhood  play  in  this  mixture.  Cholera  infan- 
tum has  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent  in  this  neighborhood  during  the 
summer.  There  were  11  deaths  during  the  hot  months.  There  are  6 
tripe,  3  sausage,  and  2  bone-boiling  establishments.  I  did  not  find  any 
sickness  that  could  be  directly  attributed  to  these  establishments  ;  but  the 
people  living  in  the  immediate  vicinity  complained  bitterly  of  the  odor 
emitted  from  them,  being  compelled  in  the  heat  of  summer  to  close  their 
windows,  heat  being  preferable  to  cool  air  ladened  with  fetid  odor.  How 
much  of  the  sickness  is  to  be  indirectly  attributed  to  these  disgusting 
nuisances,  is  a  subject  that  requires  careful  study. 

The  little  children  of  the  neighborhood  gather  around  the  doors  of  the 
slaughter-houses  to  witness  the  death  of  the  animals  ;  in  this  way  they  are 
early  in  life  educated  to  habits  of  cruelty.  They  are  rude  and  boisterous, 
showing  very  clearly  that  the  cruel  manner  in  which  slaughtering  of  ani- 
mals is  effected  in  this  city,  has  a  bad  effect  on  the  morals  of  the  com- 
munity. 

Nuisances. — I  found  47  places  where  very  evident  nuisances  existed. 
They  had  all  been  the  subject  of  complaints,  but  in  every  instance  the 
complaints  proved  unavailing.    I  will  note  a  few  of  them. 


TYPHOID  FEVEK.  AND  PLACES  THAT  PRODUCE  IT. 


295 


The  block  in  Forty-seventh  Street  running  from  the  Seventh  Avenue 
to  the  Eighth  Avenue,  is  in  a  very  bad  condition. 

There  is  no  sewer  in  the  above.  The  houses  are  built  of  wood  and 
are  poorly  constructed,  being  only  a  little  in  advance  of  the  shanty  variety. 
They  are  built  on  the  natural  surface  without  cellars,  the  yards  being  in 
almost  every  instance  above  the  level  of  the  street.  The  hydrants  are  in 
the  yards,  the  waste  water  is  drained  over  the  surface,  keeping  the  yards 
and  street  constantly  wet.  The  street  is  the  receptacle  of  the  ashes,  swill, 
and  garbage  of  the  houses,  and  is  filthy  and  noisome.  I  found  fever  cases 
in  seven  houses  in  this  block. 

Broadway,  from  Forty-seventh  to  Forty-ninth  Street,  is  not  sewered  ; 
consequently  the  houses  are,  with  but  few  exceptions,  deprived  of  drainage. 
Some  of  them  are  from  this  reason  in  a  sad  condition. 

The  block  of  six  houses  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway  suffer  the  most. 
The  natural  slope  of  the  land  is  toward  the  street,  the  descent  is  quite 
rapid.  At  the  time  of  every  rain  the  water  fills  the  cellars  and  vaults  of 
the  privies,  washing  the  contents  of  these  into  the  yards.  I  found  fever 
in  two  of  these  houses.  The  cellars  along  the  entire  length  of  both  blocks 
have  to  be  emptied  by  pumping  after  every  rain. 

I  found  fever  cases  in  every  locality  where  the  surface  is  kept  con- 
stantly wet. 

Spreading  of  manure  during  the  summer  months  is,  in  my  opinion,  a 
cause  of  fever.  The  blocks  bounded  on  the  north  by  Forty-sixth  Street, 
south  by  Forty-fourth  Street,  east  by  Seventh  Avenue,  west  by  Ninth 
Avenue,  are  cultivated  as  vegetable  gardens.  The  gardeners  cultivating 
this  ground  are  very  industrious  and  thrifty  men.  They  gather  four  crops 
a  year.  In  order  to  do  this,  large  quantities  of  fertilizing  material  must 
be  used.  This  is  collected  from  cow-stables,  pig-pens,  and  I  believe  from 
the  privy-vaults  of  the  city.  The  odor  emitted  from  this  mixture  as  it 
lies  decomposing  is  any  thing  but  pleasant ;  but  when  the  time  comes  to 
unpack  this  mass  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  it  over  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  the  stench  is  intolerable.  Those  who  are  forced  to  inhale  this 
are  necessarily  made  sick.  Nine  of  the  families  residing  on  the  boundary 
of  these  gardens  have  suffered  during  the  past  summer  with  a  severe  type 
of  fever,  and  this  number  would  undoubtedly  be  greatly  multiplied  if  the 
families  living  in  this  neighborhood  were  at  home  during  the  hot  months. 

The  street  gutters  of  the  tenant-houses  and  stables  were  invariably  found 
in  a  filthy  condition.  This  is  owing  in  part  to  the  habits  of  the  people 
and  to  their  indifference  to  cleanliness,  and  partly  to  the  bad  construction 
of  the  gutters.  The  stones  composing  the  floor  of  the  gutters  are  irregu- 
lar, one  sunk  below  the  level  of  the  other — forming  "  traps  for  the  solid 


296         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FOURTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

matters."  This  may  work  well  in  the  sewer  ten  or  fifteen  feet  below  the 
open  surface,  but  in  the  gutters  it  is  undoubtedly  a  cause  of  disease.  A9 
long  as  these  gutters  remain  in  their  present  condition  no  amount  of  sweep- 
ing or  washing  will  avail  to  thoroughly  cleanse  them. 

The  receiving-pens  for  the  swine  brought  into  the  city  are  located  at 
the  foot  of  Forty-second  Street  and  the  North  River.  The  pens  were  in 
the  condition  in  which  pig-stys  are  generally  found.  The  manure  col- 
lected from  them  constitutes  the  nuisance,  and  it  is  a  serious  one.  It  is 
thrown  into  an  excavation  near  the  street,  at  the  end  of  the  block ;  this 
pit  is  always  full,  a  large  quantity  is  allowed  to  accumulate  before  it  is 
removed.  The  air  is  constantly  filled  with  the  noisome  odor  emitted  from 
this  decomposing  mass  ;  many  and  earnest  were  the  complaints  of  the 
neighbors.  This  locality  has  been  visited  by  an  epidemic  of  fever  of 
a  severe  type  within  the  past  two  years,  and  in  my  opinion  the  manure- 
heap  was  the  cause. 

Adjoining  this  establishment  toward  the  river  is  the  slaughter-house 
of  Mr.  .  This  building  is  new  and  well-arranged  for  the  busi- 
ness. During  the  killing  season  about  one  thousand  hogs  are  slaughtered 
daily.  I  discovered  nothing  of  an  unpleasant  nature  about  the  working 
of  this  establishment  until  I  visited  the  foot  of  "West  Forty-second  Street 
(two  blocks  above).  At  this  point  there  is  a  pier  for  the  purpose  of  land- 
ing coal  which  extends  out  some  two  hundred  feet  into  the  river,  and  is 
elevated  high  above  the  water.    I  found  the  logs  and  cross  beams  of  this 

fine  structure  much  marred  by  being  full  of  the  offal  from  Mr.  's 

establishment.  Instead  of  casting  the  refuse  matter  of  the  slaughter- 
house into  the  proper  dock  to  be  disposed  of  as  directed  by  law,  he  saves 
the  city  this  expense,  and  dumps  it  into  the  river  direct.  This  would  not 
matter  much  (for  we  are  credibly  informed  that  the  city  authorities  take 
about  the  same  trouble)  if  the  tide  did  not  take  the  viscera  and  small  pigs  up 
instead  of  down  stream.  Here  we  have  another  "  trap  for  solid  matters." 
This  is  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Weehawkcn  Ferry  landing, 
consequently  thousands  of  our  citizens  are  daily  exposed  to  the  sickening 
odor  emitted  from  decaying  animal  matter. 

Swill-milk. — I  will  note  but  one  stable  ;  it  is  located  in  "West  Forty- 
fifth  Street  between  the  Ninth  and  Tenth  Avenues.  This  milk-factory  is 
built  of  wood  in  the  shanty  style ;  it  measures  twenty  by  eighty  feet. 
Eighteen  cows  are  stabled  and  milked  in  this  establishment.  The  pro- 
prietor was  so  jealous  of  his  rights  that  I  was  not  permitted  to  examine 
the  internal  arrangement  of  the  building  or  the  condition  of  the  cows. 
This  building  stands  alone  high  above  the  level  of  the  street,  bounded  on 
the  west  by  higli  rocks,  on  the  cast  by  an  empty  lot,  high  in  front  and  low 


REMEDIAL  MEASURES. 


297 


in  the  rear.  The  street  in  part  is  sewered  hut  is  not  paved,  and  the  surface 
of  it  is  rendered  very  uneven  by  heaps  of  ashes.  The  stable  has  no  con- 
nection with  the  street  sewer,  but  is  drained  into  the  adjacent  lot,  on  the 
east  side,  where  the  urine  forms  a  large  pool.  The  citizens  protect  them- 
selves from  the  overflow  of  this  by  banking ;  a  crevasse  sometimes  oc- 
curs, when  the  adjacent  yards  are  overflowed  and  the  privy  vaults  filled. 
The  privy  vaults  of  the  houses  in  Forty-sixth  Street,  located  in  the  rear 
of  this  stable,  are  filled  with  urine  once  in  four  weeks.  At  the  time  of  your 
inspector's  visit  the  vaults  were  full  and  the  yards  overflowed.  The 
manure  is  all  thrown  out  on  the  rocks  on  the  west  side  of  the  stable. 
The  fluid  portion  runs  off  the  surface  of  the  rocks  for  the  distance  of 
fifty  feet  down  into  the  street.  Some  of  the  urine  finds  an  outlet  in  this 
direction.    In  this  way  the  street  is  kept  wet,  and  is  in  a  filthy  condition. 

Complaints  have  been  regularly  made  against  this  establishment,  but 
it  continues  to  exist. 

Remedial  Measures. — Voluntary  efforts  may  do  something — should 
do  much — toward  the  discovery  and  the  application  of  the  remedies  for  the 
causes  of  insalubrity  that  prevail  in  this  inspection  district.  But  the  reme- 
dial power  that  is  most  needed  is  the  power  and  presence  of  a  thoroughly 
efficient  sanitary  police.  The  evils  that  I  have  described  in  previous 
pages  of  this  report  will  not  yield  to  the  moral  suasion  of  volunteered  in 
quiry,  inspection,  or  advice.  In  vain  will  be  the  sanitary  inspector's  re 
ports  upon  the  causes  of  the  fever,  the  dysentery,  and  the  high  sickness- 
ratio  in  his  district,  unless  by  such  reporting  the  public  conscience  and  pop 
ular  intelligence  are  aroused  to  apply  the  strong  arms  of  their  power  in 
the  form  of  definite  sanitary  regulations,  administered  by  competent  minds. 
Probably  there  is  no  other  portion  of  the  city  that  presents  greater  incen- 
tives to  popular  effort  to  eliminate  every  cause  and  agency  of  insalubrity, 
but  I  fear  that  no  amount  of  voluntary  effort  can  save  the  district  from 
evils  both  impending  and  now  being  suffered  in  this  favored  section  of  the 
city. 


EEPOET 


OF  TH 

TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


J.  LEWIS  SMITH,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — The  Twenty-fifth  District  comprises  that  portion  of  the 
Twenty-second  Ward  hounded  north  by  the  Central  Park  and  Eighty-sixth 
Street,  east  by  the  Sixth  Avenue  and  the  Central  Parle,  south  by  Fiftieth 
Street,  and  west  by  the  Hudson  River. 

Topography. — The  surface  of  this .  district,  in  its  natural  state,  is 
very  uneven,  consisting  of  low,  marshy  ground,  alternating  with  hills, 
usually  of  small  size,  and  produced  by  the  elevation  or  outcropping  of 
rock  from  the  bed  of  gneiss  which  underlies  the  whole  island.  Some  of 
these  hills  consist  of  bare  rock  ;  in  other  places,  soil  and  vegetation  cover 
the  rock.  There  is  a  general  inclination  toward  the  Hudson  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  district  which  lies  west  of  Ninth  Avenue,  while  that  part  east 
of  Ninth  Avenue  inclines  toward  the  East  River.  In  the  primitive  state 
of  the  district  the  marshy  ground  gave  rise  to  seven  distinct  streams, 
five  of  which  (A,  D,  E,  F,  and  G)  emptied  into  the  Hudson,  and  the 
remaining  two  (B,  B,  and  C,  C)  crossing  what  is  now  the  Central  Park, 
and  along  the  bed  of  the  skating  ponds,  finally  emptied  into  the  East 
River.  These  streams,  as  far  as  they  lay  within  this  district,  were  all 
small,  and  some  of  them  nearly  or  quite  disappeared  in  protracted  dry 
weather. 

Streets. — Their  Condition. — There  arc  in  the  district  5  avenues 
parallel  with  and  equidistant  from  each  other,  and  when  graded  there  will 
be  35  parallel  and  equidistant  streets,  crossing  the  avenues  at  right  angles. 
The  district  is  also  crossed  diagonally  by  Broadway,  or,  as  its  suburban 
portion  is  termed,  the  Bloomingdale  Road  ;  the  old  highway  of  the  island. 


STREETS. — THEIR  CONDITION. 


299 


map  of  twenty-fifth  disteict.       This  enters  the  district  on  the 

south,  near  Seventh  Avenue,  and 
emerges  at  Eighty-sixth  Street, 
west  of  Tenth  Avenue.  Sixth, 
Seventh,  and  Eighth  Avenues  are 
graded  and  paved  so  far  as  they 
lie  within  the  district.  Ninth 
Avenue  is  graded  as  far  as  Sixty- 
third  Street,  and  partially  above 
this  street.    It  is  paved  to  Fifty- 
fourth  Street.    Tenth  Avenue  is 
graded  as  far  as  Sevety-fourth 
Street,  and  is  open  but  not  graded 
to  Eighty-third  Street.  Eleventh 
Avenue  is  graded  to  Fifty-ninth 
Street,  and  above  that  is  not  open. 
These  avenues  all  contain  railroad 
tracks  below  Fifty-ninth  Street, 
and  Eighth  Avenue  a  track  in  its 
entire  extent  through  the  district. 
The  pavement  used  is,  in  part, 
cobble  stone,  and  in  part  the  trap- 
block.     Broadway  is  graded  to 
Seventieth    Street,   paved  with 
block   pavement   to  Fifty-ninth 
Street,  and  macadamized  from 
Fifty-ninth  to  Seventieth  Street. 
The  cross  streets,  from  Fiftieth  to 
Fifty-ninth,   are  all 
open,  and  graded  with 
the  exception  of  Fif- 
ty-first    Street  be- 
tween Sixth  and  Sev- 
enth  Avenues,  and 
portions     of  Fifty- 
third,    Fifty -fourth, 
and       Fifty  -  eighth 
Streets,     near  the 
Hudson  River. 
Above  Fifty-ninth  no  street  has  been  entirely  opened  except  Eighty- 


300  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Sewerage. — This  is  entirely  wanting  in  the  northern  or  upper  two- 
thirds  of  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  and  in  the  lower  third,  or  the  part  be- 
low Sixtieth  Street,  it  is  incomplete.  The  streets  entirely  sewered  below 
Sixtieth  Street,  are  Seventh  and  Eighth  Avenues,  and  Fifty-ninth  Street. 
The  other  streets  either  contain  no  sewer,  like  Broadway,  or  are  sewered 
only  for  limited  distances. 

Domiciles. — The  domiciles  of  the  Twenty-fifth  District  may  be  di- 
vided into  four  classes :  1st.  Shanties.  2d.  "Wooden  tenements.  3d. 
Brick  or  stone  tenant-houses.  4th.  Good  dwelling-houses,  whatever  the 
material. 

Shanties. — The  shanty  is  the  cheapest  and  simplest  domicile  construct- 
ed in  civilized  communities.  The  typical  shanty  is  built  of  rough  boards, 
which  form  the  floor,  the  sides,  and  the  roof.  It  is  built  either  on  the 
ground,  or  but  little  raised  above  it.  It  is  from  six  to  ten  feet  high,  and 
its  ground  area  varies  much  in  different  cases  ;  but  is  always  of  moderate 
extent.  It  contains  no  fireplace  or  chimney,  but  a  stove,  the  pipe  from 
which  passes  through  a  hole  in  the  roof.  It  has  from  one  to  three  or 
four  windows,  with  single  sash,  each  containing  from  four  to  six  panes  of 
small  size.  Some  shanties  have  but  one  room ;  others  an  additional 
small  apartment,  used  as  a  bedroom.  The  better  shanties  are  lathed  and 
plastered.  It  is  evident  that,  to  the  occupants  of  the  shanty,  domiciliary 
and  personal  cleanliness  is  almost  impossible.  In  one  small  room  are 
found  the  family,  chairs,  usually  dirty  and  broken,  cooking  utensils,  stove, 
often  a  bed,  a  dog  or  cat,  and  sometimes  more  or  less  poultry.  On  the 
outside,  by  the  door,  in  many  cases  are  pigs  and  goats,  and  additional 
poultry.  There  is  no  sink  or  drainage,  and  the  slops  are  thrown  upon 
the  ground.  The  water  used  is  sometimes  the  Croton,  which  is  brought 
to  the  shanties  in  pails,  usually  from  one  of  the  avenues.  In  other  places, 
where  the  Croton  hydrants  are  too  far  away,  and  the  ground  is  marshy, 
the  water  is  obtained  from  holes  dug  a  little  below  the  surface.  This 
water  often  has  a  roiled  appearance,  and  an  unpleasant  flavor.  Shanties 
are  usually  built  promiscuously  over  the  ground,  without  the  least  regard 
to  order.  Families  living  in  them  arc  largely  squatters,  and  such  people 
of  course  select  for  residences  localities  of  which  no  profitable  use  can  be 
made  by  the  proprietors.  Therefore,  shanties  in  this  district  arc  built 
mainly  on  rocky,  elevated  ground,  or  on  lots  sunken  and  too  wet  for  til- 
lage. There  are  in  the  district  552  shanties  ;  and  as  a  shanty  accommo- 
.  dates  but  one  family,  this  is  the  number  of  families  living  in  this  kind  of 
domicile. 

Wooden  Tenements. — Next  to  shanties,  in  tho  classification  of  domi- 


SHANTIES  DESCKIBED. 


301 


ciles,  come  -wooden  tenements.  In  determining  what  buildings  should 
be  placed  in  this  class,  we  have  regarded  more  the  appearance  and  gen- 
eral character  of  the  houses,  than  the  number  of  families  which  they  ac- 
commodate. The  separation  of  wooden  tenements  from  shanties  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  better  class  of  dwellings  on  the  other,  is  in  a  measure  arbitrary. 
Some  wooden  tenements  are  but  little  removed  from  shanties,  as  regards 
both  size  and  mode  of  construction ;  while  others  might,  without  much 
impropriety,  be  placed  in  the  group  of  good  private  residences.  Ordina- 
rily, however,  there  is  little  danger  of  error  in  their  classification.  The 
wooden  tenement  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District  has  usually  two  stories, 
but  some  have  only  one,  some  three,  and  a  few  four.  It  is  built  without 
cellar,  and  but  little  raised  above  the  ground.  It  has  a  mortised  frame, 
clap-boarded  sides,  a  chimney,  and  shingled  roof.  It  has  no  sewer  con- 
nection or  other  drainage,  and  no  gas  or  Croton  pipes.  The  privies  are 
in  the  rear,  or  in  front,  and  also  without  drainage.  The  water  used  by 
the  occupants  is,  in  some  localities,  the  Croton  ;  in  others,  spring  or  well 
water.  The  house  is  heated  by  a  stove,  and  the  fluel  used  is  coal,  fre- 
quently partially  burnt,  and  sifted  from  ashes  obtained  from  hotels  and 
private  residences  in  the  city.  This  is  also  the  fluel  used  in  shanties,  and 
the  shanties  and  wooden  tenements  are  lighted  by  kerosene  oil. 

The  ground  area  of  the  wooden  tenement,  like  that  of  the  shanty,  is 
nearly  square  ;  sometimes  the  width,  sometimes  the  depth  excelling.  The 
width  and  depth  vary  generally  from  twelve  to  twenty-five  feet. 

The  number  of  families  in  the  wooden  tenement  varies  from  one  to  as 
many  as  seven  or  eight,  according  to  the  size  of  the  house.  In  132  of 
these  domiciles  taken  without  selection,  I  find  312  families,  which  is  prob- 
ably not  far  from  the  average  number.  There  are  in  the*  entire  district 
861  wooden  tenements,  containing,  therefore,  according  to  the  above  cal- 
culation, 2,035  families. 

Brick  Tenant-houses. — There  are  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District  147  domi- 
ciles, built,  with  one  exception,  of  brick,  which,  from  their  mode  of  construc- 
tion, may  be  properly  considered  tenant-houses.  In  the  exceptional  case, 
the  material  is  stone.  There  are  some  dwelling-houses  which  are  built  in 
part  of  brick  and  in  part  of  wood.  Whether  these  are  classed  with  the 
brick  or  wooden  tenements,  depends  upon  which  material  is  in  excess,  or 
whether  the  building  resembles  most  in  its  appearance  the  one  or  the 
other  kind  of  domicile. 

Of  these  147  tenant-houses  94  have  four  stories,  32  three  stories, 
19  two  stories,  and  2  one  story. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  water  supply  of  these  houses : 


302  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


No.  of 
houses. 

Croton  obtained  from  hydrants  in  yard  (front  or  rear),       .  .  24 

"  "  "  cellar  or  basement,     .  .  11 


"          "     on  the  floors,         .          .          .          .  .85 

"          "     elsewhere ;  no  water  on  the  lot,           .          .  15 

Spring  water  used,  .          .          .          .          .          .  .3 

Water-supply  not  stated  in  the  records,  ....  9 


147 

House  drainage. 

None,  or  into  gutter  or  to  surface  of  street,  .  .  .44 

Drained  into  sewer,       ......  80 

"       "    contiguous  sunken  lots,  .  .  .  .14 

Not  ascertained,  ......  9 


147 

PRIVIES. 

Location.  Drainage. 
In  front  of  house,      .  .16    None,  .  .  .61 


u  rear       "       .          .  116  Drained  into  sewer,         .  77 

"  cellar     "           .  1  "       "  sunken  lots,  .  2 

None  (water-closets  in  house),  7  Placed  over  the  Hudson,  .  3 

Not  ascertained,        .          .  7  Not  ascertained,        .  .  4 


147  147 

Cellars. 

None,        .          .         .         .         .         .         .  .27 

Cellars  dry,       .......  86 

"     wet,           j"       v         :          .          .          .  .11 

Not  ascertained,           ......  23 


147 

The  number  of  families  occupying  brick  tenant-houses  I  have  ascer- 
tained to  be  634,  as  follows  : 

Houses  four  stories  high,  94,  containing  460  families,  average  about  5 
"     three        «        32,       "        132  "  "  4 

«     two  «       20,       "         40         "  "  2 

"     one  "         2,       "  2  "  "  1 

While  there  is  great  uniformity  in  the  shanties,  and  most  of  the  wooden 
tenements,  as  regards  their  sanitary  condition,  there  is  a  wide  diversity  in 
the  different  brick  tenant-houses.    Some  of  these  latter,  on  account  of  the 


CLASSES  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE  POPULATION. 


303 


lack  of  house  and  privy  drainage,  and  of  cellars,  or  the  presence  of  wet 
cellars,  possess  all  the  causes  of  insalubrity  which  are  found  in  the  wooden 
tenements  ;  while  others,  though  a  small  minority,  are  nearly  as  well  con- 
structed to  insure  comfort  and  health  as  the  better  class  of  dwellings.  In 
general,  the  oldest  brick  tenant-houses,  and  those  built  on  unfrequented  or 
unimproved  streets,  are  the  most  objectionable. 

There  are,  then,  living  in  shanties,  in  tenements,  and  in  brick  tenant- 
houses,  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  3,221  families.  It  may  be  safely  as- 
sumed that  3,000  families  occupy  domiciles  which,  from  fault  in  their  con- 
struction, or  in  their  surroundings,  are  decidedly  insalubrious.  The  exact 
character  of  the  insalubrity  will  be  pointed  out  hereafter.  These  families 
are  mostly  small,  in  consequence  of  the  great  mortality  among  infants  and 
children,  probably  not  exceeding,  in  the  average,  five.  This  gives  a  total 
of  16,105  individuals  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  who  reside  in  shanties, 
wooden  tenements,  and  tenant-houses. 

Good  Dwellings. — The  number  of  good  dwellings  in  the  Twenty-fifth 
District  is  287,  containing  probably  about  400  families.  Below  Fifty-ninth 
Street  these  dwellings  are  mostly  of  brick;  above  Fifty-ninth  Street 
chiefly  wooden  ;  and  above  Seventieth  Street,  with  three  exceptions,  en- 
tirely such. 

Population  and  Occupations. — Those  who  reside  in  shanties  are, 
with  few  exceptions,  Irish  and  Germans ;  the  Germans  predominating. 
They  are  engaged  in  humble  occupations.  Many  are  day  laborers,  em- 
ployed by  contractors  in  various  kinds  of  work,  as  in  grading,  paving, 
and  sewering  streets,  and  in  the  removal  of  rock,  or  in  excavating  for 
building  purposes.  Some  are  employed  in  the  stables  of  the  city  rail- 
roads and  stage  companies,  or  in  the  Central  Park,  and  not  a  few  are  in 
the  army.  In  addition  to  these  occupations,  and  occasionally  as  a  sole 
means  of  support,  many  families  keep  cows  or  pigs,  with  poidtry.  In  the 
brick  and  wooden  tenements  resides  the  large  class  of  mechanics,  as 
tailors  and  shoemakers,  the  drivers  and  conductors  on  the  various  city 
railroads,  and  many  of  those  engaged  in  retail  business  on  the  avenues. 
In  the  wooden  tenements  the  German  families  preponderate ;  in  the 
brick,  the  American.  Those  residing  in  the  better  class  of  houses  are 
mostly  engaged  in  business  down  town,  as  merchants,  clerks,  real  estate 
agents,  brokers,  bankers,  etc. 

Preventable  Causes  of  Disease  and  Death. — (a.)  Stagnant  Water. 
— Much  of  the  insalubrity  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District  is,  no  doubt,  trace- 
able to  the  stagnant  water.  The  surface  of  this  district  has  been  stated 
to  consist  of  an  alternation  of  hills  and  valleys,  the  latter  having  been  once 
the  source  of  several  streams.    These  streams,  with  the  exception  of  two, 


304  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SAJSTTARY  DISTRICT. 


have  been  obstructed  by  tbe  grading  of  the  streets.  Sewerage  has  in  some 
places  partially  obviated  the  bad  effects  of  this  obstruction,  but  at  present 
there  is  stagnant  water  along  the  bed  of  four  of  these  water-courses. 
There  are  five  ponds  of  considerable  magnitude  produced  in  this  way,  be- 
sides smaller  collections  of  water.  Much  of  the  ground  above  Sixtieth 
Street,  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues,  is  permanently  so  wet,  in 
consequence  of  obstruction  to  the  natural  drainage,  as  to  be  unfit  for 
tillage  ;  and  the  sunken  andundrained  lots  become,  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
receptacle  of  decaying  substances,  especially  dead  animals,  and  the  gar- 
bage from  adjacent  houses.  From  the  amount  of  wet  ground  which  the 
Twenty-fifth  District  contains,  it  has  always  been  the  habitat  of  malarious 
affections.  These  affections  are  less  prevalent  in  the  southern  part  than 
formerly,  owing  to  the  greater  amount  of  sewerage  ;  while  in  the  upper  or 
northern  part,  where  there  is  no  sewerage,  and  the  course  of  streams  is 
interrupted,  they  are  believed  to  be  more  frequent.  This  was  the  opinion 
of  the  late  Dr.  "Williams,  an  intelligent  and  accurate  observer,  who,  for 
nearly  a  third  of  a  century,  was  almost  the  only  physician  living  in 
Bloomingdale.  Moreover,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  stagnant  water,  and 
probably,  in  part,  in  consequence  of  it,  the  continued  fevers,  diphtheria, 
and  cholera  infantum  prevail  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  The  ponds  or 
pools  of  stagnant  water  generally  have  a  roiled  or  dirty  appearance  ;  but 
in  the  warmest  weather  the  hue  is  green,  from  the  presence  of  minute 
organisms,  chiefly  animal,  as  I  have  several  times  observed  by  the  micro- 
scope. During  the  warmest  weather  many  of  the  smaller  collections  dry 
away,  and  they  all  become  reduced  in  size. 

There  is  also  in  the  district  considerable  standing  water  in  excava- 
tions, made  in  grading  the  streets  or  for  building  purposes.  Even  on 
elevated  ground  these  excavations  are  occasionally  met  with,  containing 
water  collected  either  from  rains,  or  from  adjoining  springs  ;  but  they  are 
oftenest  observed  in  the  valleys,  along  and  near  the  site  of  the  old  water- 
courses, even  where  there  is  no  stagnant  water  on  the  surface. 

(6.)  Sewerage  and  House  Drainage. — Insufficient  sewerage  and  house 
drainage  constitute,  also,  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  insalubrity.  The 
shanties,  the  tenements,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  brick  tenant- 
houses,  have  no  connection  with  the  sewers,  and  no  drainage,  cxcej)tiuto 
the  gutters.  Generally  a  connection  with  the  sewer  is  impossible,  as  there 
is  so  little  sewerage  in  the  district ;  but  even  in  sewered  streets,  shanties 
and  wooden  tenements  have  no  sewer  connection  on  account  of  the  small 
value  of  these  domiciles,  and  the  cost  of  constructing  drains.  This  is  less 
objectionable  as  regards  shanties,  on  account  of  their  being  built  over  the 
squares,  without  order  and  with  interspaces  ;  but  the  wooden,  and  in  part 


NEGLECT  OF  LOCAL  DRAINAGE. — FAULTY  SEWEEAGE.  305 

also  the  brick  tenant-houses,  being  built  in  rows  along  the  streets,  the 
slops  from  them  are  thrown  into  the  gutters,  where  they  form  long  lines 
of  stagnant,  or  if  the  ground  inclines,  slowly-running  water,  of  the  most 
insalubrious  character,  and  in  many  places  continuing  the  year  round. 
Wherever  there  are  rows  of  wooden  tenements  this  condition  of  the  gut- 
ters generally  obtains ;  and  as  there  is  such  a  large  number  of  families 
living  in  these  houses,  the  noxious  exhalations  from  the  gutters  must  be  a 
proline  source  of  disease.  In  one  locality  the  water  of  the  gutters  forms 
a  network  with  occasional  breaks,  extending  the  distance  of  several 
squares.  This  nuisance  might  be  partially  obviated  in  sewered  streets  by 
the  construction  of  more  culverts,  which  are  entirely  too  few  for  localities 
where  the  domiciles  have  no  drainage,  or  else  drainage  to  the  surface  of 
the  street.  That  this  description  of  the  gutters  is  not  exaggerated,  will 
be  apparent  from  a  brief  statement  of  the  condition  of  Ninth  Avenue  and 
the  cross  streets,  from  Fiftieth  to  Fifty-fifth,  along  which  streets  there  is 
a  dense  German  population,  living  in  wooden  tenant-houses.  All  the  gut- 
ters in  this  locality  contain  more  or  less  water  ;  and  in  the  more  crowded 
streets  the  quantity  is  ordinarily  so  great  that  there  is  a  flow  or  current 
toward  the  river,  as  the  ground  inclines  in  that  direction.  Thus  in  Fifty- 
second  Street  there  is  a  current  in  each  gutter  from  Ninth  Avenue  to 
Eleventh,  where  it  reaches  the  first  culvert,  which  it  enters,  although  this 
street  is  sewered  from  near  Tenth  Avenue  to  the  river.  In  Fifty-third 
Street,  the  stream  on  either  side,  from  Ninth  Avenue,  enters  the  vacant 
lots  west  of  Tenth  Avenue,  where  there  is  a  pond  of  stagnant  water.  In 
Fifty-fourth  Street  the  two  streams  from  Ninth  meet  at  Tenth  Avenue, 
and  thence  flow  to  Eleventh  ;  thence  along  Eleventh  Avenue  to  Fifty-fifth 
Street ;  and  finally  down  Fifty-fifth  Street  to  the  Hudson,  a  distance  from 
the  commencement  of  probably  half  a  mile.  All  gutter  streams  pro- 
duced by  slops  and  house  drainage  are  of  course  small,  so  that  in  hot 
weather  they  frequently  dry  away,  leaving  stagnant  water  in  crevices  and 
sunken  places. 

(c.)  The  Condition  of  Domiciles. — It  has  been  stated  above  that 
elevated  rocky  localities  on  the  one  hand,  and  marshy  and  sunken  ground 
on  the  other,  are  to  a  great  extent  peopled  by  poor  families,  who  select 
these  places  for  the  erection  of  their  cheap  dwellings,  either  because 
they  pay  no  rent,  or  but  little.  Elevations  of  rock  are  probably  not 
objectionable  to  the  sanitarian  as  a  place  of  residence,  but  swampy 
ground  obviously  is.  There  are  many  shanties  and  wooden  tenements 
constructed  near  the  bed  of  streams,  upon  ground  which  is  permanently 
wet,  so  as  to  render  the  apartments  liable  to  dampness.  Cellars  in 
these  localities  are  apt  to  contain  water,  in  some  instances  through  all 
20 


306  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


the  seasons,  as  for  example  a  cellar  in  Fifty-third  Street,  where,  al- 
though remote  from  the  river,  fish  have  lived  many  months.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  objectionable  nature  of  the  ground  on  which  shanties  and 
wooden  tenements  often  stand,  the  salubrity  of  these  domiciles  is  greatly 
impaired  by  their  mode  of  construction.  They  are  generally  built  with 
very  little  elevation  of  the  floors  above  the  ground,  and  sometimes  after 
a  period  there  is  none  in  consequence  of  the  accumulation  of  dirt  and 
ashes  outside.  A  large  proportion  of  the  wooden  tenements,  and  many 
of  the  shanties,  are  warm  and  comfortable  in  cold  weather ;  but  others 
not  being  properly  lathed  and  plastered,  contain  apertures  through  which 
the  cold  penetrates.  The  inmates  of  such  domiciles  suffer  especially  from 
those  diseases  which  occur  in  consequence  of  sudden  changes  in  the 
weather,  as  croup,  bronchitis,  pneumonia,  and  dysentery.  The  inade- 
quate water-supply  of  both  shanties  and  wooden  tenements,  by  prevent- 
ing proper  personal  and  domiciliary  cleanliness,  is  doubtless  a  source  of 
disease. 

Some  of  the  brick  tenant-houses  are  constructed  with  a  proper  regard 
for  the  health  as  well  as  comfort  of  the  occupants.  With  others  the  case 
is  different.  In  a  large  number  of  them  the  bedrooms  have  a  central 
position  on  each  floor,  so  that  proper  ventilation  is  impossible,  the  supply 
of  air  being  through  the  door  only,  or  a  door  and  a  small  half  window. 
Another  fault  of  construction  in  some  houses  of  this  class,  is  the  small 
size  of  the  rooms,  so  as  to  cause  crowding  or  packing  of  families,  and 
thereby  promoting  contagious  and  pestilential  diseases.  As  an  example 
may  be  mentioned  four  houses,  built  however  as  one,  at  the  corner  of 
Broadway  and  Fifty-third  Street.  These  houses  are  four  stories  high,  but 
are  not  deep,  and  are  built  with  the  greatest  economy  of  space,  containing 
forty-five  families. 

Into  one  of  these  families,  a  few  months  since,  typhus  fever  was  in- 
troduced by  an  emigrant  from  Ireland.  There  were  in  the  family  no 
children,  but  six  adults,  including  the  emigrant,  and  only  one  escaped  the 
disease.  This  family  occupied  a  main  apartment, .  measuring  10x12 
feet,  and  two  bedrooms  each  7X  6£  feet.  It  will  be  obvious  to  those  fami- 
liar with  typhus,  that  the  spread  of  this  disease  was  due,  mainly,  to  the 
small  size  of  these  rooms,  and  the  consequent  crowding.  In  this  class  of 
buildings  the  pestilential  and  contagious  diseases,  when  epidemic,  prevail 
extensively  and  fatally.  It  has  been  seen  that  some  of  the  brick  tenant- 
houses  have  no  drainage,  and  therefore,  as  regards  salubrity,  differ  but 
little  from  those  constructed  of  wood. 

The  better  class  of  dwellings  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  have  been 
for  the  most  part  constructed  with  reference  to  health  as  well  as  comfort 


FAULTY  DRAINS  AND  POISONOUS  EXHALATIONS. 


307 


of  the  occupants.  The  older  houses  of  this  class  are,  ordinarily,  built  of 
wood,  and  isolated  ;  those  more  recently  constructed,  of  brick,  and  in  rows. 
The  point  of  chief  interest  to  the  sanitarian  in  reference  to  these  dwellings 
relates  to  their  drainage.  Some  of  the  streets,  where  rows  of  brick 
houses  have  been  erected,  are  not  sewered,  and  proper  drainage  under 
these  circumstances  is  hardly  to  be  expected.  It  is  necessary,  in  such 
streets,  to  connect  the  buildings  with  some  distant  sewer  ;  and  as  the  con- 
struction of  houses  in  this  district  is,  usually,  in  the  hands  of  specu- 
lators and  contractors,  the  drain  to  the  sewer  is  apt  to  be  built  in  a  care- 
less manner,  and  of  poor  materials,  so  that  obstructions  and  leakages 
after  a  while  occur.  The  longest  row  of  houses  in  the  district  affords  a 
striking  example  in  corroboration  of  the  truth  of  this  remark.  Fiftieth 
Street,  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  Avenues,  is  not  sewered,  except  a  short 
distance  near  Ninth  Avenue.  A  row  of  thirty  first-class  houses  was 
erected  a  few  years  ago  in  this  street,  and  they  all  connect  with  the  sewer 
in  Ninth  Avenue,  by  a  single  drain,  which  runs  under  the  houses  from 
No.  1  to  30.  The  occupants  of  several  of  these  houses  have,  to  my 
knowledge,  complained  of  an  offensive  odor  arising  from  the  cellars,  due 
doubtless  to  cracks  in  the  drain  or  a  separation  of  the  joints.  In  one  of 
these  buildings,  where  a  child  was  sick  last  summer  with  cholera  infan- 
tum, the  parents  stated  to  me  that  the  odor  was  sometimes  noticed  on  the 
second  floor,  and  it  may  have  been  one  of  the  causes  of  the  disease.  Two 
or  three  years  since  an  eminent  physician  of  this  city,  well  known  to  the 
public  as  a  sanitarian,  stated  in  my  hearing  that  he  had  visited  two 
children  in  a  house  in  this  row,  who  seemed  to  be  suffering  from  blood- 
poisoning,  and  one  died.  They  were  both  much  prostrated,  and  their 
tongues  presented  a  singular  dark  appearance.  In  investigating  the  cause, 
he  and  the  attending  physician  were  shown  to  the  cellar,  the  ground  of 
which  was  wet,  and  exhaling  an  offensive  odor.  These  physicians  appear 
to  have  been  ignorant  of  the  peculiarity  in  the  drainage  of  these  houses, 
though  satisfied  that  they  had  ascertained  the  cause  of  the  disease. 

The  connection  of  a  house  with  the  sewer  necessitates  the  payment  of 
the  sum  of  ten  dollars,  in  addition  to  the  cost  of  constructing  the  drain, 
which,  if  the  ground  is  rocky,  is  considerable.  On  this  account  it  is  cus- 
tomary in  building  rows  of  houses  to  connect  several  houses,  perhaps  five 
or  six,  with  the  sewer  by  a  single  drain  ;  and  if  this  is  done  with  as  little 
labor  as  possible,  and  as  cheap  materials  as  the  terms  of  the  contract  will 
allow,  it  is  readily  seen  that  the  drainage  of  the  so-called  first-class  houses, 
even  in  sewered  streets,  may  be,  and  often  is,  very  defective.  In  conse- 
quence, in  many  of  these  houses  there  is  complaint  of  an  offensive  odor 
from  the  sewer,  especially  in  certain  states  of  the  weather 


308  '        REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


(d.)  The  Disposition  of  Garbage. — One  of  the  principal  sources  of  im- 
pure air  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District  is  the  garbage.  It  is  removed  pretty 
regularly  from  the  better  class  of  dwellings  in  a  few  of  the  streets,  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  district,  either  by  boys  sent  out  from  shanties  to  collect 
it  for  domestic  animals,  or  by  the  City  Inspector's  ash  and  garbage-carts. 
From  this  class  of  houses,  located  in  the  central  and  upper  or  northern 
part  of  the  district,  and  from  the  tenant-houses  and  shanties  generally, 
there  is  no  regular  removal  of  garbage.  There  are  only  twenty-eight 
garbage-boxes  in  the  entire  district,  and  some  of  these  are  so  dilapidated 
as  to  be  almost  useless.  These  boxes  are  used  by  the  occupants  of  the 
tenant-houses  not  only  as  receptacles  for  garbage  but  also  for  ashes  ;  and 
being  so  few  and  so  irregularly  emptied,  they  are  practically  of  little 
consequence.  As  there  are  about  3,221  families  in  the  district  who 
occupy  tenant-houses  and  shanties,  it  may  be  safely  said  that  there  are 
3,000  families  who  throw  their  entire  garbage  on  the  ground,  where 
it  decays.  This  disposition  of  the  garbage ,  adds  most  to  the  insalu- 
brity of  those  squares  which  contain  wooden  tenements,  for  these 
houses  are  generally  built  compactly  in  rows,  and  the  garbage  from 
them  is  thrown  into  the  gutters,  where  there  is  usually  more  or  less 
stagnant  water.  This  water  then  becomes  impregnated  with  organic 
matter  undergoing  decay,  and  to  add  to  the  insalubrity  these  streets 
are  seldom  cleaned.  For  example,  Fifty-second  Street,  between  Sixth 
and  Seventh  Avenues,  contains  a  dense  population  on  either  side,  liv- 
ing in  wooden  tenements.  In  the  gutters  of  this  street  there  is  al- 
ways garbage  and  stagnant  water.  The  street  was  opened  about  eight 
years  ago,  and  one  family  informed  me  that  it  had  never  been  cleaned ; 
another  that  it  was  cleaned  once  about  four  years  since.  Garbage 
from  the  shanties  probably  does  not  add  much  to  the  insalubrity  of  the 
district,  as  the  quantity  of  it  is  not  great,  and  it  is  consumed  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  by  the  domestic  animals. 

(e.)  The  Condition  of  Privies. — Owing  to  the  unsewered  state  of  the 
streets,  and  the  character  of  the  domicile,  there  arc  numerous  badly-con- 
structed and.undrained  privies  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District.  Most  of 
the  brick  better-class  dwellings,  and  five  of  the  brick  tenant-houses,  are  con- 
structed with  water-closets  inside,  and  therefore  without  privies.  All  the 
other  brick  tenant-houses  (142)  and  nil  tlio  wooden  domiciles,  whether 
tenement  or  belonging  to  the  better  class,  have  privies. 

Privies  attached  to  wooden  tenements  and  to  shanties  have  no 
drainage,  and  it  has  been  seen  that  of  those  connected  with  the  brick 
tenant-houses  there  is  no  drainage  to  sixty-one.  Privies  belonging  to  brick 
houses,  whether  drained  or  not,  arc  ordinarily  well  constructed.  They 


LEVTTICAL  LAWS  OF  PERSONAL  HYGIENE  NEEDED.  309 

are  of  large  size,  with  suitable  doors  and  covers,  and  deep  vaults.  Those 
not  drained  are  cleaned  at  intervals,  so  that  the  privies  of  such  domiciles 
cannot  be  considered  a  cause  of  insalubrity.  The  case  is  different  with 
those  belonging  to  wooden  tenements  and  to  sbanties.  These  are  gener- 
ally very  small,  built  mainly  of  rough  boards.  Many  of  them  are  located  on 
rocky  ground,  and  without  vaults  ;  others,  and  the  majority,  bave  shallow 
vaults,  which  are  soon  filled.  It  is  evident  that  privies  constructed  in  this  way 
are  a  source  of  insalubrity,  unless  frequently  cleaned  ;  but  to  a  large  pro- 
portion of  them  proper  attention  in  this  respect  is  seldom  given.  They 
are  most  offensive,  and  add  most  to  the  insalubrity  in  those  squares  which 
contain  rows  of  wooden  tenements,  for  in  such  localities  they  are  most 
numerous.  It  is  here  that  families  complain  most  of  the  odor  from  this 
source,  which  is  so  offensive  that  I  have  noticed  it  not  infrequently  in  such 
domiciles  in  the  apartments  occupied  by  the  sick. 

The  diseases  which  prevail  most  on  those  squares  where  the  privies  are 
most  numerous  and  in  the  most  offensive  state,  and  which  appear  to  be 
referable  in  part  at  least  to  them,  are  diarrhoeal  affections,  especially  of 
infants  in  warm  weather.  From  observations  made  in  this  district,  and 
more  thorough  and  conclusive  examinations  in  other  districts,  there  is 
abundant  proof  that  continued  fever,  especially  the  typhoid  form,  is  also 
produced  by  privy  exhalations. 

Families  living  in  the  upper  part  of  the  district,  near  Eighth  Avenue, 
complain  much  of  the  odor  of  night-soil,  which  is  dumped  in  the  Central 
Park  for  manure  ;  but  fortunately  this  portion  of  the  district  is  sparsely 
inhabited.  The  cleaning  of  the  undrained  privies  at  night  by  scavengers 
is  also  a  nuisance  of  which  there  is  much  complaint,  as  it  produces  an 
intolerable  stench  in  the  vicinity. 

(/.)  Occupations. — The  occupation  which  has  been  most  productive 
of  insalubrity  in  this  district  has  been  the  raising  of  hogs.  At  the 
time  of  the  last  epidemic  of  cholera,  in  1854,  this  nuisance  was  in  a 
measure  abated  through  the  vigilance  of  the  police  ;  but  from  the  im- 
munity granted  to  it  of  late,  the  number  of  pig-pens  has  again  increased, 
though  not  to  the  extent  of  former  years.  The  presence  of  pig-pens  is 
objectionable,  not  only  on  account  of  the  filthy  habits  of  the  animal  and 
the  offensive  character  of  the  excrementitious  matter,  but  also  on  account 
of  the  nature  of  the  food  which  is  usually  given  to  it.  This  cousists 
largely  of  swill,  and  garbage  obtained  from  private  houses  and  from  hotels 
in  the  city.  It  is  collected  in  dog  or  horse  carts  early  in  the  morning,  and 
what  is  not  consumed  is  thrown  upon  the  ground,  where  it  decays.  In 
this  way  the  amount  of  decaying  animal  and  vegetable  matter  in  the  dis- 
trict is  considerably  increased. 


310  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


Those  engaged  in  raising  hogs  reside,  for  the  most  part,  in  shanties,  so 
that  the  pens  are  chiefly  on  those  squares  where  the  shanties  are  located. 
The  largest  number  on  one  square,  that  between  Sixth  and  Seventh 
Avenues,  Fifty-first  and  Fifty-second  Streets,  is  18,  and  here  the  hogs 
feed  in  part  upon  the  viscera  of  animals  obtained  from  a  slaughter-house 
near  by. 

There  are  in  the  entire  district  only  about  6  slaughter-houses,  and  all 
but  two  of  these  are  so  small  that  they  are  scarcely  known  in  their  im- 
mediate neighborhood.  The  two  excepted  are  connected  with  sewers 
about  100  feet  distant,  and,  unless  in  the  warmest  weather,  no  offensive 
animal  odors  are  noticed  in  or  around  them.  In  one  sheep,  in  the  other 
cattle,  are  mainly  slaughtered. 

There  are  7  establishments  for  the  preparation  of  tripe.  The  odor 
from  these,  especially  during  the  boiling  process,  and  from  the  rejected 
portions  cut  or  scraped  from  the  tripe,  and  which  are  often  not  properly 
disposed  of,  is  offensive,  and  without  doubt  insalubrious.  The  summer 
complaint  of  infants,  occurred  last  summer  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  at 
least  4  of  these  establishments  (which  are  usually  little  more  than  sheds), 
and  in  apartments  where  the  odor  was  at  times  distinctly  noticed.  But 
the  occupations  which  are  the  most  objectionable  to  the  sanitarian  re- 
main to  be  noticed.  In  the  interior  of  a  square  on  which  189  families 
reside,  is  a  sausage  and  fat-boiling  establishment.  The  heads  and  viscera 
of  animals  are  received  here,  and  the  parts  which  can  be  profitably  used 
are  selected,  while  the  rest  is  throAvn  upon  the  ground  or  buried.  The 
adjoining  streets  have  no  sewerage,  and  this  building  no  drainage.  In 
another  part  of  the  district,  about  one  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  from  each 
other,  are  two  establishments  where  the  intestines  of  cattle  are  cleaned, 
boiled,  and  packed  for  transportation  to  Germany,  to  be  used  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  sausages.  People  living  near  these  buildings  complain  much 
of  the  stench  arising  from  them.  The  part  which  they  bear  in  the  causa- 
tion of  disease,  will  be  seen  when  we  come  to  treat  of  insalubrious  lo- 
calities. 

((7.)  Dram-Shops. — At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Inspectors,  a 
member  of  the  hygienic  council  stated  that  accidents  on  the  city  railroads 
constituted  a  proper  subject  for  sanitary  inquiry.  Surgeons  who  aro 
called  to  treat  such  cases  do  not  find  it  difficult  to  discover  the  chief 
cause  in  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks.  A  very  large  proportion  of  those 
who  receive  injuries  either  on  the  railroads  or  elsewhere,  are  intoxicated 
at  the  time.  It  is  the  experience  too  of  all  physicians,  that  thoso  who  are 
in  the  habit  of  taking  alcoholic  drinks,  arc  not  only  more  liable  to  certain 
kinds  of  disease  than  the  temperate ,  but  that  with  them  all  diseases  are 


FEARFUL  RESULTS  OF  INEBRIETY  AMONG  THE  POOR.  311 


more  severe,  and  more  apt  to  terminate  unfavorably.  The  drunkard,  from 
exposure  to  the  weather,  from  irregularity  in  sleeping  and  eating,  from 
frequenting  dens  of  vice,  which  he  would  shun  if  sober,  from  perversion 
generally  of  his  functions  invites  disease,  so  that  community  would  be 
startled  did  they  know  in  how  large  a  proportion  of  cases  of  sickness  in- 
temperance is  either  a  direct  or  predisposing  cause.  But  the  effects  of 
this  vice  in  the  production  and  aggravation  of  disease,  are  not  confined  to 
the  victim  of  the  habit :  the  intemperate  parent  slights  his  family,  in 
sickness  as  well  as  in  health,  neglects  in  many  instances  to  send  for  a 
physician  till  the  disease  »of  his  wife  or  child  is  too  far  advanced  for  suc- 
cessful treatment.  Moreover,  the  destitution  of  the  drunkard's  family 
often  necessitates  the  use  of  improper  food  and  insufficient  clothing,  and 
an  exertion  in  procuring  the  means  of  support  beyond  their  strength  or 
years,  and  therefore  incompatible  with  their  health.  The  child,  scarcely 
advanced  beyond  infancy,  Avho,  trembling  with  cold,  begs  a  piece  of  bread 
at  your  basement  window,  or  whose  hands  are  already  hardened  by  work 
in  the  stifling  air  of  the  factory,  is  compelled  thus  to  endanger  its  health 
in  the  formative  period  of  life,  in  a  large  proportion  of  cases,  through  the 
intemperance  of  one,  or  both  of  its  natural  protectors.  Hence  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors  is  not  only  a  proper,  but  an  important  subject  for  san- 
itary inquiry.  Though  the  use  of  brewed  liquors  is  not  so  injurious  to 
the  health  of  individuals  as  is  that  of  distilled  liquors,  still  some  of  the 
evil  effects  mentioned  above  proceed  from  the  former  as  well  as  the  latter, 
but  in  less  degree.  In  the  Twenty-fifth  District  are  53  liquor  stores  ;  44 
groceries,  containing  bars ;  48  lager  bier  saloons.  There  is,  then,  one 
store  where  distilled  liquors  arc  sold  to  every  37.5  families,  and  one  lager 
bier  saloon  to  every  75.1  families.  The  distilled  liquors  are,  with  very 
few  exceptions,  prepared  in  the  city,  and,  being  of  inferior  quality,  are 
sold  at  low  prices.  There  are  in  the  district  only  about  12  groceries 
which  do  not  contain  bars,  so  that  the  sale  of  distilled  liquors  is  a  more 
extensive,  and,  probably,  more  profitable  business  than  that  of  groceries. 
Since  the  commencement  of  the  war,  several. liquor  stores,  and  some  lager 
bier  saloons,  have  been  closed. 

There  are  occupations  pursued  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District  which 
are  detrimental  to  the  health  of  those  who  engage  in  them,  but  not  to 
community  at  large ;  and  as  they  affect  injuriously  only  a  small  relative 
number,  they  will  not  be  considered  in  this  paper. 

(7i.)  Unwholesome  Articles  of  Diet. — This  is  a  subject  which  has  not 
received  the  attention  it  deserves ;  but  enough  is  known  to  lead  to  the 
belief  that  improper  or  insufficient  food  is  a  cause  of  impaired  health 
and  of  disease  among  the  poor  of  this  district.   The  milk  used  by  families 


312 


KEPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


occupying  shanties  and  wooden  tenements  is,  in  great  measure,  ob- 
tained from  cows  stabled  in  the  city,  or,  as  it  has  been  termed,  "  swill- 
milk."  That  this  milk  is  unsuitable  food,  especially  to  infants  in  warm 
weather,  is  well  known.  The  use  of  it  increases  the  number  and  severity 
of  cases  of  cholera  infantum.  The  children  of  the  poor  often  eat  rye  bread 
and  cheap  molasses,  with  almost  no  animal  food,  the  year  round,  except 
on  certain  days  and  special  occasions.  Even  the  swill-milk  is  too  expen- 
sive for  general  consumption  in  the  family,  and  is  reserved  for  the  infant. 
Such  diet,  doubtless,  tends  to  produce  that  cachetic  or  scrofulous  state  so 
often  visible  in  the  features  of  these  children,  and  which  renders  them  so 
easy  a  prey  to  disease. 

The  practice  of  rigid  economy  among  the  poor  induces  them  to  pur- 
chase cheap  and  tainted  meats  and  unripe  or  stale  vegetables,  and,  in  the 
summer  season,  the  effect  of  this  diet  is  apparent  in  the  production  of 
such  diseases  as  cholera  morbus. 

Much  of  the  pork  raised  in  the  city  and  its  environs  is  consumed  in 
the  shanties  and  tenant-houses.  The  drab  and  mottled  appearance  and 
peculiar  oily  and  disagreeable  flavor  of  this  meat,  renders  it  probable 
that  it  is  not  a  wholesome  article  of  diet. 

Below  Sixtieth  Street  the  water  used  for  cooking  purposes,  as  well 
as  for  drink,  is  chiefly  the  Croton.  Above  Sixtieth  Street  it  is  ordina- 
rily obtained  from  wells  or  springs.  Many  of  the  shanties  in  this  part  of 
the  district  are  so  remote  from  croton  hydrants,  and  from  wells,  that  it  is 
not  practicable  to  obtain  water  from  either.  Families  living  in  these 
localities  usually  obtain  their  water  from  holes  dug  in  the  ground  where 
it  is  marshy.  These  excavations  contain  water  nearly  level  with  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  and,  with  occasional  exceptions,  covered  by  boards  or 
surrounded  by  a  curb.  In  these  holes,  which  cannot  properly  be  called 
wells,  collect  not  only  the  drainage  of  the  valley,  but  also  the  washings 
from  the  adjacent  slopes  on  which  shanties,  with  their  pens  and  sheds, 
are  located.  Professor  Draper  lately  made  a  chemical  analysis  of  water 
from  one  of  these  valley  excavations,  and  found  that  it  contained  "  liquid 
poison  ;  "  contained  a  larger  proportionate  quantity  of  organic  matter  than 
the  Seine  or  Thames.  Yet  there  is  water  in  this  district,  used  both  for 
cooking  and  drinking,  which  receives  the  washing  of  shanties  and  of  pens 
in  greater  degree  than  that  which  he  examined.*   In  Sixty-eighth  Street. 

*  The  following  note,  accompanied  by  the  report  of  the  analysis,  sets  forth  the  facts  upon 
this  subject : 

"  Ukivebsitt  Medical  College,  107  Etiat  Fourteenth  Street, 

JVew  York,  Oct.  4</t,  ISO*. 

"  Dr.  E.  Hamus  : 

"Dkaii  Sin. — I  enclose  the  analysis  of  the  sample  of  water  sent  by  Dr.  J.  I* 


LIQUID  POISONS  DRANK  FOR  "WANT  OF  CROTON. 


313 


midway  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  is  one  of  these  holes,  without  any  cover  or 
curb,  or  inclosure  whatever,  and  full  of  water,  so  that  any  stray  pig  or 
goat  can  drink  from  it.  The  slope  is  nearly  or  quite  destitute  of  grass, 
and  between  the  excavation  and  the  summit  are  5  shanties,  with  their 
yards,  containing  pigs,  geese,  and  dogs.  During  rainy  weather,  the  water 
from  above  flows  so  near  this  excavation  that  there  is  doubtless  a  much 
larger  proportion  of  "liquid  poison"  deposited  in  it  than  was  found  in 
the  specimen  analyzed  by  Prof.  Draper.  There  are,  probably,  about 
400  families  who  obtain  water  from  excavations  similar  to  those  de- 
scribed. 

(i)  Still-births,  Deaths  of  Parturient  Women. — In  the  enumeration 
of  preventable  causes  of  death,  we  approach  an  unpleasant  subject, 
about  which  little  is  known  outside  the  medical  profession.  We  allude  to 
the  subject  of  still-births,  and  deaths  of  mothers  in  confinement.  The 
poor  in  New  York  cannot,  in  many  instances,  afford  sufficient  remunera- 
tion to  secure  suitable  attendance  in  child-birth.  The  institution  for  lying- 
in  women  is  totally  inadequate  to  meet  the  wants  of  so  large  a  class,  and 
in  most  cases  is  not  applied  to,  probably  in  part  through  a  feeling  of 
pride.  Consequently,  in  some  of  these  families,  neither  midwife  nor  physi- 

Smith.  You  see  at  once  what  is  its  peculiarity — the  very  large  amount  of  organic  matter. 
This  is  reported  to  me  to  have  been  of  the  most  fetid  kind,  suggesting  the  proximity  of  a 
sewer,  privy,  or  some  other  putrid  receptacle. 

"  Now,  there  is,  obviously,  but  one  thing  to  be  done  in  such  a  case.  It  is  to  close  up 
the  well.  The  people  that  use  it  are  drinking  so  much  liquid  poison,  and  no  wonder  they 
have  bowel  complaints. 

"  Compare  the  filthy  water  with  waters  elsewhere  used.  It  has,  in  a  gallon,  more  than 
48  grains  of  solid  matter,  half  of  which  is  organic.  But  the  Thames  water  has  only  15 
grains,  the  Seine  water  20  grains,  and  the  Danube  10J  grains. 

"  You  mention  in  your  note  the  Permanganate  of  Potash  tests.  You  will  perceive  that 
the  quantities  here  determined  have  been  by  the  customary  process  of  Quantitative  Anal- 
ysis, which,  though  more  troublesome,  is  incomparably  more  correct. 

'  Yours  truly, 

"  (Signed)  JOHN.  W.  DRAPER." 

Report  of  an  analysis  of  a  sample  of  water  from  a  well  in  the  Twentieth  Ward.  Presented 
by  Dr.  J.  Lewis  Smith,  inspector  Twenty-fifth  District. 
Amount  of  water  sent  for  examination,  24  ounces. 

Grains. 

Organic  matter  and  volatile  salts,  per  gallon,  .  .  .  23ia„% 

Fixed  salts,  "  ...  24-,a09ff 

Total  solid  residue,  "...  48-rVff 

HENRY  DRAPER,  M.  D. 

Chemical  Laboratory  University  of  New  York. 
October  tth,  1864. 


314:         KEPOET  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

cian  is  employed,  in  order  to  save  the  fee.  Neighboring  -women  give 
their  advice  and  assistance,  often  more  to  the  injury  than  help  of  the 
patient.  In  other  families  midwives  are  employed  with  the  small  fee  of 
three  dollars,  who  are  mostly  uneducated,  and  are,  of  course,  unfit  for  the 
duties  which  they  assume.  They  ordinarily  lack  patience,  which  is  in- 
dispensable in  judicious  midwifery  ;  and  by  the  use  of  baths,  fumigation, 
and,  worst  of  all,  ergot,  before  delivery,  and  their  reckless  treatment  of  the 
patient  afterwards,  lead  to  great  and  unnecessary  sacrifice  of  life.  In- 
stances might  be  cited. 

Other  families  send  for  physicians,  promising  pay,  which  perhaps  is 
sufficiently  remunerative  if  the  detention  is  short,  but  not  if  otherwise. 
There  are  strong  inducements,  which  many  do  not  resist,  to  expedite  such 
cases  by  means  which  are  hazardous  to  both  mother  and  child.  Indeed, 
an  amount  of  self-denial  is  required  on  the  part  of  the  physician,  in  some 
of  these  cases,  if  he  treat  them  carefully  and  judiciously,  which  few  can 
appreciate  who  have  not  been  similarly  situated.  To  stay  hour  after 
hour,  perhaps  all  night,  in  a  shanty,  or  the  close  room  of  a  tenant-house, 
inspiring  an  atmosphere  which  is  poisonous,  obliged  to  answer  perpetual 
queries  in  reference  to  the  patient,  afraid  to  lie,  or  almost  to  sit,  through 
regard  for  personal  cleanliness,  and  that,  too,  when  there  are  urgent  and 
more  remunerative  duties  elsewhere,  or  when  sleep  is  greatly  needed,  re- 
quires an  amount  of  patience  and  benevolence  which  every  one  does  not 
possess.  Hence  physicians  engaged  in  this  practice  often  resort  earlier 
than  they  should  to  the  use  of  the  forceps  or  ergot,  in  order  to  terminate 
their  own  suffering  as  well  as  that  of  the  patient,  with  the  hope  that  it 
may  be  as  well  for  the  mother  and  the  child,  but  with  consciousness  of 
the  risk,  and  sometimes  with  a  result  which  leads  them  to  regret  that 
they  had  been  so  hasty. 

This  truthful  statement  of  midwifery  among  the  poor,  explains,  in 
part,  but  not  entirely,  the  reason  why  there  are  so  many  still-births,  and 
so  many  deaths  of  parturient  women  among  these  people.  The  mode  of 
life,  and  the  recklessness  of  the  women  themselves,  before  and  after  con- 
finement, constitute,  doubtless,  one  cause. 

A  section  might  be  added  on  the  treatment  of  diseases,  especially  among 
the  poor,  by  which  there  is  an  unnecessary  increase  in  the  number  of 
deaths  ;  an  important  and  interesting  subject,  but  to  which  we  can  only 
allude. 

Brothels. — There  is  not  in  the  entire  district  a  single  brothel ;  or,  if 
there  is,  it  is  conducted  so  secretly  that  it  is  not  generally  known.  Con- 
sequently, the  diseases  which  originate  in  such  places  arc  not  so  frequent 
as  in  other  parts  of  the  city,  and  decoy-women  arc  rarely  seen  in  the 
h! recta  at  night. 


BAD  HABITS  AND  SICKLY  PLACES. 


315 


Fike-Escapes. — From  the  suburban  character  of  the  district  there 
are  many  houses,  three  or  four  stories  high,  built  isolated,  and  only  one 
of  these  has  a  fire-escape.  Here  is  a  constant  source  of  danger  to  those 
■who  occupy  the  upper  floors  of  these  houses,  though,  fortunately,  fires 
are  not  so  frequent  in  the  upper  as  in  the  central  and  lower  parts  of  the 
city,  and  no  accident  has  occurred  in  the  district  from  this  source,  at  least 
during  the  last  ten  years. 

Crowded  Domiciles. — There  is  less  packing  or  crowding  of  families 
in  domiciles  in  the  upper  part  of  the  island  than  is  complained  of  by  in- 
spectors in  the  thickly-settled  wards.  Some  of  the  tenant-houses  in  this 
district  contain  more  families  than  a  proper  regard  for  salubrity  would 
allow.  The  most  crowded  building  is  an  asylum  for  soldiers'  children  in 
Fifty-eighth  Street,  which,  with  a  ground  area  of  43  feet  by  45,  contains 
one  hundred  children.  But  sufficient  publicity  has  been  given  elsewhere 
to  this  institution. 

Habits. — A  statement  of  the  preventable  causes  of  disease  will  not  be 
complete  without  a  section  on  personal  domiciliary  habits  ;  but  more  space 
is  required  to  treat  this  subject  properly  than  the  limits  of  this  paper  will 
allow. 

There  is  one  fact,  however,  to  which  we  will  call  attention,  and  that 
is  the  practice,  common  among  poor  Germans,  of  living  in  apartments  too 
highly  heated  ;  of  covering  their  children  with  an  unnecessary  amount  of 
clothing,  and  of  sleeping  between  feathers  even  in  the  warmest  weather. 
The  infant  among  these  people  is  often  placed  lengthwise  upon  a  large 
pillow,  which  is  then  wrapped  around  it,  and  secured  by  cord  or  tape,  so 
that  only  its  head  is  visible,  projecting  from  the  end  of  the  pillow.  Such 
personal  and  domiciliary  habits  among  people  occupying  wooden  tene- 
ments, which  are  especially  subject  to  changes  of  temperature,  evidently 
increase  the  liability  to  inflammatory  affections,  especially  of  the  throat  and 
chest,  and  the  children  in  these  families  are  the  very  ones  who  are  often- 
est  sick  with  croup,  bronchitis,  and  pneumonia. 

Insalubrious  Localities. — In  order  to  show  that  the  causes  of  insa- 
lubrity mentioned  above  do  actually  have  the  effect  which  is  represented, 
a  few  of  the  most  insalubrious  localities  in  the  district  will  be  briefly  de- 
scribed. 

There  is  a  lot  25  X  100  feet  which  contains  a  tenant-house  in  front, 
and  another  in  the  rear,  with  two  rows  of  sheds  between,  accommodating 
six  horses  and  four  cows.  The  location  is  near  one  of  the  old  water  courses 
(see  the  Map  page  299  [A]),  so  that  the  surface  of  the  lot  is  below  the 
grade  of  the  street,  and  wet.  The  interspaces  between  the  two  sheds,  and 
between  the  sheds  and  the  houses,  are  covered  witli  loose  boards,  between 


316         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

which  water  can  be  seen  stagnant.  There  is  decaying  vegetable  matter, 
as  apples,  potatoes,  turnips,  and  cabbage  designed  as  food  for  the  animals, 
lying  upon  and  between  the  boards,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the  year 
there  is  stagnant  water  by  the  side  of  the  rear  house,  in  the  adjoining  lot. 
Here  is  abundant  cause  of  disease,  and,  as  a  consequence,  typhus  fever 
has  occurred  in  the  rear  house,  in  the  last  six  months. 

In  Fifty-second  street,  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  Avenues,  there  is  a 
dense  German  population  on  each  side,  in  wooden  tenant-houses.  This 
street  is  not  sewered,  and  has  not  been  cleaned  in  four  years,  as  is  else- 
where stated.  Nos.  151  and  153  are  on  low  ground,  with  stagnant  water 
in  a  ditch  between  them,  and  in  the  gutter  in  front.  This  water  contain? 
refuse  matter  thrown  into  it  from  the  houses,  so  as  to  exhale  a  deadly 
miasm  during  hot  weather.  As  a  consequence,  an  infant  in  each  house 
rapidly  succumbed  to  cholera  infantum  last  summer,  before  the  warmest 
part  of  the  season  was  reached. 

Between  Seventy-fifth  and  Seventy-sixth  Streets  a  point  of  land  juts 
out  from  Eighth  Avenue  into  a  pond  of  stagnant  water,  produced  by 

obstruction  to  a  water  course  (marked 
on  my  district  map  as  C) ,  by  work  ou  the 
Central  Park.  This  point  of  land  con- 
tains one  shanty  and  three  wooden  tenant- 
houses,  till  lately  but  two,  occupied  by 
nine  families.  During  the  past  twenty 
months,  there  have  been  among  these 
people  dysentery,  typhoid  fever,  inter- 
mittent fever,  and  cholera  infantum,  and 
three  deaths  of  infants.  These  diseases 
and  deaths  were  unquestionably  due  to 
the  insalubrity  of  the  place,  caused  by 
the  stagnant  water.  In  this  diagram  it 
will  be  observed  that  the  area  occupied 
by  the  dwellings  is  surrounded  by  tho 
filthy  pond  on  three  sides. 

Between  two  streets  west  of  Tenth 
Avenue  is  another  insalubrious  locality. 
This  square  contains  two  establishments 
for  the  preparation  of  tripe,  one  for  cur- 
ing intestines,  a  few  pig-styes  and  cow- 
stalls,  and  nineteen  wooden  tenant-houses. 
The  odor  from  these  various  sources  is  at  times  very  offensive  in  tho 
vicinity,  especially  during  tho  process  of  boiling  the  intestines,  and  tho 
effect,  especially  on  the  health  of  infants,  is  quito  apparent. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  TWO  INSALUBRIOUS  SQUARES. 


317 


The  best  idea  of  the  insalubrity  resulting  from  the  nuisances  of  this 
locality,  will  be  conveyed  by  mentioning  my  own  experience.  A  con- 
siderable part  of  the  square  is  in  a  valley  more  than  twenty  feet  below 
the  grade  of  the  streets,  and  is  crossed  diagonally  by  a  stream  (E).*  On 
a  close,  sultry  evening  of  last  summer,  I  was  asked  to  see  a  child  with 
cholera  infantum,  near  this  water-course.  At  this  time  the  intestines 
were  boiled  in  the  latter  part  of  the  day ;  and  as  noxious  exhalations  fall 
to  the  ground  at  night,  the  immediate  neighborhood  was  filled  with  gases 
exceedingly  offensive  to  the  nostrils,  and  doubtless  proportionately  injurious 
to  health.  In  the  valley  there  was  such  a  concentration  of  effluvium, 
that  it  seemed  to  me  were  it  not  for  the  conservatism  in  the  economy 
due  to  acclimation  it  would  be  hardly  possibly  to  support  life. 

Of  course  the  infant  in  such  an  atmosphere  was  in  a  hopeless  state, 
and  died  soon  after.  Before  leaving  I  was  requested  to  see  another  in- 
fant with  the  same  disease,  the  result  of  which  was  probably  similar, 
and  an  adult  troubled  with  pain  and  looseness  of  the  bowels.  During 
the  entire  evening  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  remove  the  offensive  taste 
of  these  exhalations  from  my  throat,  in  spite  of  gargling  with  water. 

But  to  show  how  the  causes  of  insalubrity  may  affect  a  large  number 
of  individuals,  we  would  refer  to'  the  accompanying  diagram,  which  repre- 
sents the  most  thickly  settled  square  of  the  district.  This  square  contains 
one  shanty,  two  brick,  and  sixty-five  wooden  tenant-houses,  and  a  popula- 
tion of  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  families.  The  number  of  families  in 
each  house  is  stated  in  the  diagram.  The  diseases  occurring  among  these 
people  from  the  first  of  January  to  the  beginning  of  October  have  been 
ascertained,  and  written  opposite  the  diagram,  with  the  exception  of  the 
cases  among  the  families  on  and  near  Ninth  Avenue,  with  whom  there  has 
been  much  less  sickness  than  in  other  parts  of  the  square. 

The  obvious  causes  of  so  much  sickness  are  the  following : 

1st.  The  low  ground  in  the  centre  of  the  square,  which  was  once  the 
source  of  a  stream  (D).* 

2d.  Crowded  population. 

3d.  Absence  of  sewerage,  and  of  house  and  privy  drainage,  so  that 
there  is  water  with  garbage  in  the  gutters  almost  the  entire  year,  and  an 
offensive  odor  from  many  of  the  privies  in  the  rear  of  the  houses. 

4th.  A  sausage  and  fat-boiling  establishment,  also  without  drainage, 
and  having  a  central  position  toward  one  end  of  the  square.  The  effluvia 
from  this  establishment  sometimes  compel  the  people  in  the  adjoining 
houses  to  close  their  windows. 


*  The  letters  E  and  D  refer  to  streams  that  are  indicated  upon  the  Map,  p.  299. 


318  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SASTTTART  DISTRICT. 


Prevailing  Diseases  in  one  square  in  1864,  prior  to  Oct.  1st. 
[Domiciles  in  which  sickness  occurred  are  designated  by  letters.] 


a.  Two  infants  died  of  diphtheria. 

b.  An  infant  died  in  warm  weather. 

c.  Two  infants  spoon-fed,  died  in  warm  weather, 

twelve  and  fourteen  days  old. 

d.  An  infant  has  had  the  bowel  complaint  during 

the  six  weeks  preceding  Oct.  1st. 

e.  An  infant  has  been  sick  several  weeks,  and  is 


AVENUE 


now  much  reduced,  the  mother  says,  "  with  its  [J] 
teeth."  H 
An  infant  died  of  cholera  infantum  in  warm 

weather.  _ 
A  boy  two  years  old  had  typhus  fever  in  Sep-  ^ 

tember.    An  infant  died  in  the  summer. 
An  infant  had  bowel  complaint  in  hot  weather.  K 
cc  «  u  u 

A  spoon-fed  infant  died  of  cholera  infantum.  A  CO 
girl  about  eight  years  old  has  typhus  at  prcs- 
ent  (Oct.  1st).  O 

Two  children  had  dysentery. 

Two  children  had  inflammation  of  eyes. 

A  child  twenty-one  months  old  had  diarrhoea  all 
summer. 

Two  infants  had  cholera  infantum;  one  died. 
One  child  has  inflammation  of  eyes. 

An  infant  one  year  old  had  cholera  infantum. 

An  infant  had  cholera  infantum  in  summer.  A 
girl  had  fever  (probably  typhus). 

Two  cases  of  dysentery,  and  three  of  cholera 
infantum,  in  hot  weather. 

One  case  of  cholera  infantum. 

An  infant  in  the  summer  very  sick  with  cholera 
infantum.  A  girl  eight  years  old  now  has 
fever,  20 

An  infant  had  cholera  infantum.  rn 

Severe  attack  of  dysentery  in  an  adult.  j 

An  infant  died  in  warm  weather  with  the  bowel 
complaint. 

An  infant  died  of  cholera  infantum. 

An  infant  sick  with  diarrhoea  in  summer,  recov- 
ered. 


CO 


0J 


©6 


4 


©71 


□ 


6>1 


oq 


A 


do 


Is 


-to 


a 


tx3 


NINTH 


AVENUE 


THE  MOST  FATAL  DISEASES  PREVENTABLE. 


319 


5th.  A  pond  and  adjacent  wet  ground  containing  the  entire  drainage  of 
the  domiciles  in  Fifty-second  Street,  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  Avenues, 
beside  the  drainage  of  a  cluster  of  houses  and  privies  west  of  Tenth 
Avenue.    Dead  animals  are  also  thrown  into  this  pond. 

To  a  physician,  an  attentive  examination  of  this  diagram,  showing,  as 
it  does,  the  nature  of  the  prevailing  diseases,  would  do  more  than  an  essay 
to  convince  him  of  the  need  of  proper  sanitary  regulations,  as  a  means  of 
reducing  the  amount  of  disease  and  death  in  this  city. 

Preventable  Diseases  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District. — In  the 
examination  of  diseases  of  a  preventable  nature,  sanitarians  very  properly 
give  much  attention  to  the  fevers,  since  the  causes  of  these  affections  are 
in  great  degree  under  our  control.  All  agree  that  the  causes  of  inter- 
mittent and  remittent  fevers  are  susceptible  of  complete  removal,  and 
perhaps  also  the  causes  of  typhoid  and  typhus,  could  proper  sanitary 
regulations  be  enforced.  These  diseases  occur  in  all  parts  of  the  district, 
though  typhus  is  more  frequent  in  the  southern,  and  intermittent  and  re- 
mittent fevers  in  the  northern  section,  as  has  been  stated.  Diphtheria 
also  prevailed  in  sparsely  as  well  as  thickly-settled  portions  of  the  district 
during  the  recent  epidemic  of  the  disease  in  New  York.  The  most  severe 
cases  seen  by  me  were  in  basements  of  brick  and  wooden  tenements, 
in  rear  buildings,  and  in  shanties  in  marshy  localities,  although  it  spared 
no  condition  of  domicile  or  of  life.  Though  not  susceptible  of  entire  pre- 
vention, its  mahgnant  character  could,  no  doubt,  be  greatly  modified  if 
people  lived  generally  with  a  proper  regard  for  the  laws  of  health. 

The  eruptive  fevers  are  much  more  prevalent  in  the  district  than  they 
would  be  with  proper  sanitary  regulations.  Small-pox  prevails  more  or 
less  every  year  in  portions  of  the  district,  notwithstanding  the  readiness 
of  physicians  to  vaccinate,  and  the  proffer  of  gratuitous  vaccination  on 
the  part  of  the  dispensaries.  Many  parents,  either  from  indolence  or  for- 
getfulness,  do  not  have  their  children  vaccinated  ;  and  some  refuse  to  have 
it  done,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrance  of  their  physicians,  either  because 
they  believe  it  ineffectual  as  a  preventive  of  small-pox,  or  dangerous  as 
a  means  of  communicating  scrofula. 

Scarlet  fever  and  measles,  the  former  very  fatal,  are  of  frequent  oc- 
currence. Both  these  affections,  as  well  as  the  other  contagious  diseases 
of  children,  become  vastly  more  frequent  in  consequence  of  exposure  in 
the  public  schools.  In  truth,  the  public  schools  spread  such  diseases  over 
the  entire  district.  Hence,  could  proper  regulations  be  enforced  in  refer- 
ence to  the  schools,  the  amount  of  sickness  among  children  might  be 
materially  diminished.  The  diarrhoeal  affections  could  be,  in  a  great 
measure,  controlled  by  proper  sanitary  regulations,  and  they  add  largely 


320 


EEPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANTTABY  DISTEICT. 


to  the  mortality  of  the  district,  especially  in  the  summer  season!  Asiatic 
cholera,  fortunately  not  a  frequent  visitant,  it  is  well  known,  ravages  most 
the  insalubrious  localities.  It  has  occurred  once  in  this  district  during 
my  residence  in  it,  namely,  in  1854.  At  this  time  there  were  many  pig- 
pens between  Sixth  and  Seventh  Avenues,  Fiftieth  and  Seventieth 
Streets,  and  over  this  wide  section  it  prevailed  most  extensively  and  ma- 
lignantly. During  the  entire  summer  of  this  year,  after  nightfall,  the  air 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  pens  and  stables  was  always  very  offensive  to  the 
smell,  and  the  disease  occurred  most  frequently  at  night,  when  the  noxious 
exhalations  remained  in  the  lower  portions  of  the  atmosphere. 

During  the  months  of  July,  August,  and  a  part  of  September,  so  often 
did  these  cases  occur  at  night,  that  physicians  who  attended  them  usually 
expected  to  be  called  from  bed  between  the  hours  of  one  and  three  A.  M. 
The  recollection  is  vivid  to  this  day  of  the  great  mortality  from  this  dis- 
ease, not  only  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  pens  and  stable?,  but 
also  in  certain  houses  where  there  were  obvious  causes  of  insalubrity. 
Thus  in  a  double  three-story  tenant-house  in  Seventh  Avenue  resided  a 
butcher,  whose  daughters  were  occupied  in  removing  the  fat  from  viscera 
sent  from  the  slaughter-house.  This  occupation  gave  rise  to  an  offensive 
odor,  which  was  noticed,  not  only  in  the  apartments  where  the  viscera 
were  kept,  but  in  the  adjoining  hall.  The  epidemic  first  visited  the  family 
of  the  butcher,  and  then  ravaged  room  after  room  to  the  top  of  the  house, 
with  a  rapidity  and  violence  which  rendered  it  certain  that  it  had  found  in 
the  animal  miasm  a  condition  exceedingly  favorable  for  its  development. 

In  the  course  of  this  summer  so  great  was  the  panic,  that  it  was  re- 
solved by  the  authorities  to  remove  all  the  hogs  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
island  ;  but  this  wise  sanitary  measure  was  only  partially  carried  out,  on 
account  of  the  resistance  and  evasions  which  it  met. 

In  another  three-story  tenant-house  the  disease  was  more  than  ordina- 
rily malignant,  and  the  cause  was  afterwards  found  in  the  cellar,  where 
hogs  were  kept  in  order  to  escape  the  notice  of  the  police.  Cholera  also 
occurred  in  the  other  parts  of  the  district ;  but  in  the  locality  which  we  havo 
described,  this  midnight  messenger  of  death  lingered  after  comparative 
salubrity  had  returned  to  most  other  portions  of  the  city.  The  prevcntablo 
nature  of  cholera  morbus  is  well  known.  It  is  induced  mainly  by  the 
use,  in  warm  weather,  of  fruits  and  vegetables  frequently  unripe  or  stale. 

But  the  diarrhoea!  affection  which  is  most  destructive  to  life  in  this  dis- 
trict, and  in  the  city,  is  cholera  infantum.  Therefore  we  shall  treat  some- 
what at  length  of  this  disease,  especially  of  its  preventable  nature.  Tho 
term  cholera  infantum,  originally  applied  only  to  those  severe  cases  in 
which  there  arc  frequent  serous  evacuations  and  rapid  prostration  of  the 


THE  HAVOC  OF  CHOLERA  INFANTUM. 


321 


infant,  is  now  employed  to  designate  all  severe  and  dangerous  cases  in 
which  diarrhoea  is  the  prominent  symptom,  occurring  in  the  summer  season. 
This  disease  begins  to  appear  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  and  from  this 
time  till  November  it  is  the  most  common  and  fatal  disease  which  the 
physician  is  called  to  treat,  except  when  Asiatic  cholera  prevails.  It 
generally  commences  with  moderate  diarrhoea,  the  evacuations  being  often 
green,  and  sometimes  containing  undigested  casein  and  partly-digested 
particles  of  solid  food,  if  its  diet  have  been  of  this  character.  After  some 
days  vomiting  commences,  and,  if  the  disease  continue,  the  patient  be- 
comes more  and  more  emaciated  and  weak.  Instead  of  this  gradual  com- 
mencement, the  onset  of  the  disease  is  sometimes  violent,  an  actual  cholera 
morbus,  especially  if  improper  food  has  been  taken.  Recovery  or  death 
may  occur  at  any  period,  but  a  fatal  termination  is  not  usual  till  after  the 
lapse  of  several  weeks  ;  and  of  those  who  linger  through  the  summer  months, 
many  finally  recover  as  the  weather  becomes  cold,  though  from  a  state 
of  extreme  emaciation. 

There  is  much  doubt  in  the  minds  of  physicians  in  regard  to  the  exact 
causes  of  cholera  infantum.  The  belief  is  prevalent  in  and  out  of  the  pro- 
fession that  dentition  is  one  of  the  chief  causes,  and  that  therefore  the  dis- 
ease is  in  a  measure  unavoidable.  Many  lives  are  lost  annually  in  con- 
sequence of  this  belief,  since  the  parents  not  unfrequently  neglect  to  pro- 
cure medical  advice  till  the  last  stages  of  the  disease  are  reached,  acting 
in  the  idea  that  the  diarrhoea  is  the  result  of  dentition,  and  a  relief  to  it. 

The  following  statistics,  which  throw  some  light  on  the  causation  of 
cholera  infantum,  are  drawn  from  observations  made,  for  the  most  part, 
in  this  district : 


TABLES. 


Age. 

5  months  or  under, 
From  5  months  to  1 2, 


12 
18 

24 


18, 

24, 
36, 


Total, 


Nos.  of 
Cases. 
.  52 
.  193 
153 
.  88 
27 

513 


Ms.  of 
Cases. 
.  38 


Stage  of  Dentition,. 

No  teeth,      .    .  , 

Cutting  incisors,  *    .    .  84 

"     anterior  molars,  31 

"     canines, ...  36 

"     last  molars,      .  14 

"     all  the  teeth,  .  25 


STos.  of 

When  disease  Vegan  Cases. 
Beginning  of  summer,  .  5 

In  June,  16 

"  Julv,  35 

"August,  ....  25 
"  September, ....  3 
"October,  1 


Under  the  age  of  1  yean. 
Nursing,  .... 

Weaned,  

Spoon-fed  and  occasionally  nursed, 


Nos.  of 
Cases. 
36 
27 
15 

78 


Under  the  age  of  18  months. 
Weaned  in  spring  or  summer,  . 
"       autumn  or  winter, 


2fos.  of 
Cases. 
20 
8 


As  dentition  commences  at  about  the  age  of  six  months,  we  see  that 
many  cases  of  cholera  infantum  occur  before  the  period  of  dentition,  and 
21 


322  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

some  afterwards ;  so  that  in  a  large  number  of  cases  this  physiological 
process  cannot  operate  as  a  cause.  Dentition,  it  is  generally  admitted, 
will  sometimes  increase  the  peristaltic  action  of  the  intestines,  and  conse- 
quently the  number  of  evacuations  ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  ever 
produces  organic  change  in  the  mucous  surface  of  the  intestines,  which 
occurs  in  cholera  infantum,  for  in  fifty-eight  post-mortem  examinations  in 
cases  of  this  disease  which  I  have  witnessed,  colitis  was  uniformly  pres- 
ent, frequently  entero-colitis,  unless  the  patient  had  died  within  the  first 
week  of  its  sickness. 

According  to  my  experience,  the  younger  the  infant,  the  conditions 
being  the  same,  the  more  liable  it  is  to  this  disease  ;  and  the  reason  why 
fewer  have  it  in  the  first  half  year  of  life  than  in  the  second  or  third,  is 
that  in  these  latter  periods  more  are  weaned.  Bottle-fed  infants  under  the 
age  of  six  months,  rarely  escape  the  disease  in  this  city  during  the  months 
of  July  and  August.  That  the  causes  of  cholera  infantum  are  in  a  great 
measure  atmospheric,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  disease  occurs  only 
in  the  season  of  high  temperature  ;  that  though  so  frequent  in  the  city,  it 
is  rare  in  the  country  ;  and  that  in  the  city  it  prevails  most  where  the  atmos- 
phere is  most  insalubrious.  That  the  causes  are,  in  part,  dietetic,  is 
evident  from  the  above  statistics.  Although  it  is  customary  for  mothers, 
in  the  class  among  whom  these  observations  were  made,  to  suckle  their 
infants  till  nearly  the  age  of  two  years,  one-third  of  those  under  this  age 
who  had  cholera  infantum  were  weaned,  and  a  portion  of  the  remainder 
were  spoon-fed  in  part.  In  another  table  it  is  seen  that  a  larger  proportion 
take  the  disease  who  are  weaned  in,  or  immediately  before  warm  weather, 
than  in  autumn  or  winter.  These  facts  show  clearly  that  the  nursing  in- 
fant is  much  less  liable  to  the  disease  than  the  one  who  uses  cows'  or 
goats'  milk,  or  solid  food,  especially  such  milk  or  food  as  is  used  in  the 
families  of  the  poor. 

Cholera  infantum,  if  we  include  under  this  head  those  cases  of  maras- 
mus which  result  from  it,  is  the  most  fatal  disease  in  the  city  except  con- 
sumption. It  adds  nearly  two  thousand  to  the  aggregate  death-list  each 
year,  and  yet  it  is  one  of  the  most  preventable,  and,  in  its  first  stages, 
curable  diseases. 

Let  the  physician  and  the  parent  correctly  understand  the  preventable 
nature  of  this  disease,  so  that  instead  of  quietly  and  resignedly  deploring 
the  bad  effects  of  dentition,  they  set  themselves  vigorously  at  work  to  pro- 
vide purer  air,  and  a  moro  wholesome  diet  for  the  child,  if  need  be,  by  re- 
moving it  to  the  country,  and  cholera  infantum  would  no  longer  stand 
second  in  the  lists  of  deaths. 

These  diseases  we  havo  thought  best  to  particularize,  as  thoy  arc  so 


"WHAT  SANITARY  REGULATIONS  ARE  NEEDED.  323 


eminently  susceptible  of  prevention  or  modification ;  but  other  affections 
might  be  mentioned  which  would  be  much  less  frequent,  were  the  laws  of 
health  better  understood  and  obeyed. 

Remedial  Measures. — It  is  difficult  to  determine,  exactly,  what 
measures  should  be  employed  in  order  to  remove  those  causes  of  disease 
which  have  been  mentioned  above,  or,  if  their  removal  be  impossible,  at 
least  to  restrict  their  operation.  But  it  is  evident  that  in  order  to  promote 
the  salubrity  and  health  of  the  district,  the  following  measures  are  re- 
quisite : 

1st.  Sewerage  of  all  occupied  streets,  and  the  connection  of  each 
house  with  the  sewer  by  a  suitable  drain.  Sewerage,  also,  sufficient  to 
remove  stagnant  water. 

2d.  The  construction  of  water-closets  like  those  in  the  better  class  of 
houses,  so  far  as  practicable,  in  place  of  privies.  These  can  be  located 
within  the  domiciles,  or  in  the  yard.  If  privies  are  built,  building  them 
with  proper  covers  and  vaults,  and  with  drains  trapped,  so  as  to  prevent 
the  escape  of  sewer  gas. 

3d.  The  construction  of  an  adequate  number  of  garbage-boxes  of  an 
improved  pattern,  perhaps  as  recommended  by  some  of  the  inspectors, 
having  covers,  trapped  drains,  and  hydrants  attached. 

4th.  Cleaning  the  streets  at  short  and  stated  intervals,  and  the  use  of 
Belgian  or  Russ  pavement,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  cleaning. 

5th.  Ordinances  to  improve  the  mode  of  constructing  domiciles,  es- 
pecially in  reference  to  the  size  and  ventilation  of  rooms  in  tenant-houses, 
and  the  elevation  of  the  first  floors  of  shanties  and  tenements  above 
the  surface  of  the  ground,  so  as  to  prevent  dampness ;  also  an  ordinance 
in  reference  to  the  construction  of  fire-escapes. 

6th.  Ordinances  either  prohibiting  or  regulating  those  occupations 
which  add  to  the  insalubrity  of  the  district,  or  increase  the  number  of 
deaths.  Occupations  of  this  character,  which  confer  no  benefit  on  the  com- 
munity, should,  so  far  as  possible,  be  suppressed.  Others  which  are  use- 
ful, such  as  hog-raising,  should  not  be  allowed  within  the  limits  of  the 
city,  or  should  be  subject  to  such  restrictions  as  would  render  them  in  the 
least  possible  degree  injurious  to  the  public  health.  The  advice  of  the 
city  inspector  in  reference  to  this  matter  deserves  consideration,  that 
markets,  slaughter-houses,  and  similar  establishments  be  placed  in  one  lo- 
cality. 

7th.  Ordinances  regulating  the  sale  of  articles  of  food,  especially  milk, 
vegetables,  and  meats.  Also  the  construction  of  more  Croton  hydrants,  so 
as  to  furnish  a  better  supply  of  water  to  the  poor  in  the  central  and  upper 
parts  of  the  district. 


324  REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


8th.  Regulations  in  reference  to  medical  practice,  especially  the  ob- 
stetric branch.  As  obstetrical  cases  are  largely  attended  by  women,  and 
will  doubtless  continue  to  be,  should  not  the  education  of  women  for  at- 
tendance in  midwifery  be  encouraged  ? 

9th.  Regulations  to  prevent  the  spread  of  contagious  diseases,  such  as 
exclusion  of  unvaccinated  children  from  the  schools,  and  what  is  still  more 
required  as  a  preventive  measure,  the  exclusion  of  those  children  who  are 
expos,ed  at  home  to  small-pox,  varioloid,  scarlet  fever,  or  measles. 

This  brief  enumeration  of  remedial  measures  is,  of  course,  incom- 
plete. It  has  been  our  object  simply  to  present  certain  particulars  in 
which  sanitary  reform  is  needed,  and  is  apparently  quite  feasible.  The 
exact  details  of  the  manner  in  which  so  desirable  an  end  can  be  attained, 
will  be  best  determined  by  a  competent  board  of  health. 


JOIS"T  EEPOET 


OF  THE 

TWENTY-SIXTH  AND  TWENTY-SEVENTH  SANITARY  IN- 
SPECTION  DISTRICTS. 


H.  MORTIMER  BRUSH,  M.  D .,  AND  ALEXANDER  HADDEN,  M.  D. 

Sanitary  Inspectors. 


Boundaries  of  the  Joint  Districts. — North  by  Eighty-sixth  Street, 
east  by  the  East  River,  south  by  Fortieth  Street,  and  west  by  the  Sixth  Av- 
enue.   This  district  comprises  the  Nineteenth  Ward. 

In  reviewing  our  reports,  the  fact  will  doubtless  be  noticed  that,  not- 
withstanding the  comparatively  healthy  condition  of  all  classes  of  the  pop- 
ulation, there  is  scarcely  a  block  throughout  our  two  inspection  districts 
that  has  not  either  a  publicly  acknowledged  nuisance,  or  a  something 
which  directly  deteriorates  public  health.  The  causes  of  complaint  to 
which  we  refer  do  not  all  require  a  special  act  of  legislation  to  remove  ; 
many  of  them  being  already  provided  for  by  law.  The  city  inspector's 
report  for  1863  may  be  brought  in  conflict  with  the  above  statements  in 
regard  to  the  general  health  of  this  district.  His  report  of  mortality 
gives  the  number  of  deaths  in  this,  the  Nineteenth  Ward,  as  2,382  ;  nearly 
1 ,000  more  than  in  any  other  ward  in  the  city  ;  but  this  includes  the  mor- 
tality of  the  institutions  on  Blackwell's  Island,  the  St.  Luke's  Hospital, 
Colored  Home,  Nursery  and  Child's  Hospital,  and  the  various  orphan 
asylums  which  are  located  in  this  ward. 

The  population  of  the  Nineteenth  Ward,  according  to  the  last  census, 
is  31,004 — adults,  16,918  ;  children,  14,086.  The  present  population 
cannot  be  less  than  40,000. 

Topography. — The  original  topography  of  this  part  of  Manhattan 
Island  is  very  difficult  to  describe  with  accuracy.  The  surface  was  very 
uneven,  abrupt  ledges  of  rock  running  boldly  up  122  feet  above  tide- 
water ;  valleys  almost  encircling  them,  sinking  as  low  as  1 1  feet.  The 


326     REPORTS  OF  TWENTY-SIXTH  AND  TWENTY-SEVENTH  DISTRICTS. 

principal  portion  of  the  surface  was  dry,  only  about  one-tenth  being 
marshy,  and  that  along  the  water-courses.  The  general  inclination,  south 
of  Seventieth  Street,  is  southeasterly,  waters  flowing  into  the  East  River, 
between  Forty-seventh  and  Forty-ninth  Streets.  Above  Seventieth  Street, 
the  inclination  is  directly  eastward.  The  character  of  the  soil  is  mostly 
clay :  hard-pan  about  four  inches  below  the  surface.  About  one-eighth 
of  the  whole  district  is  made-ground.  The  materials  used  have  been 
stones,  excavations  of  cellars  in  the  vicinity,  the  levellings  of  high  ground, 
&c,  &c. 

Origin,  direction,  and  present  condition  of  water-courses. — There  are 
four  original  water-courses  in  these  districts.*  One  arises  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Fourth  Avenue  and  Forty-sixth  Street,  and  taking  a  south- 
easterly direction,  crosses  Forty-fifth  Street  between  Fourth  and  Lexing- 
ton Avenues,  crosses  Lexington  Avenue  at  Forty-fourth  Street,  then  runs 
south  to  Forty-second  Street,  along  Forty-second  Street  east  to  midway 
between  Second  and  Third  Avenues,  then  south  to  Thirty-eighth  Street, 
then  taking  a  southeasterly  course  empties  into  the  East  River  at  Kip's 
Bay,  between  Thirty-seventh  and  Thirty-sixth  Streets.  The  second  water- 
course arises  at  Seventy-second  Street  near  Ninth  Avenue,  and  taking  a 
winding  southeasterly  direction  empties  into  the  East  River  at  Turtle  Bay, 
foot  of  Forty-seventh  Street.  This  stream  crosses  the  lower  portion  of 
Central  Park  to  the  southeastern  angle  at  Fifty-ninth  Street,  crosses  Fifth 
Avenue  at  Fifty-eighth  Street,  then  winds  northward  to  Sixtieth  Street 
midway  between  Fourth  and  Fifth  Avenues,  then  turning  south  runs  par- 
allel with  Fourth  Avenue  to  Fifty-third  Street,  crosses  Fourth  Avenue, 
Lexington  Avenue  at  Fifty-first  Street,  Third  Avenue  between  Fiftieth 
and  Fifty-first  Streets,  crosses  Fiftieth  Street  midway  between  Second  and 
Third  Avenues,  Forty-ninth  Street  at  the  junction  of  Second  Avenue, 
then  a  direct  course  to  the  river.  The  third  water-course  is  short  and  su- 
perficial. It  rises  at  about  Sixty-fifth  Street  and  Second  Avenue,  runs 
southeast,  crosses  First  Avenue  between  Sixty-fourth  and  Sixty-fifth 
Streets,  and  opens  into  the  East  River  between  Sixty-first  and  Sixty-second 
Streets.  The  fourth  water-course  is  also  superficial.  It  rises  by  three 
forks,  one  in  the  high  grounds  of  Eightieth  Street  near  the  Tenth  Ave- 
nue, the  other  two  in  the  Central  Park  between  Sixty-eighth  and  Seventy- 
ninth  Streets,  crosses  Fifth  Avenue  at  Seventy-third  Street,  runs  directly 
eastward  between  Seventy-fourth  and  Seventy-fifth  Streets,  emptying  into 
the  East  River  between  the  said  streets.  By  as  correct  information  as 
can  be  gained,  the  two  lower  water-courses  west  of  the  Third  Avenue  are 
turned  into  the  sewers ;  cast  of  the  Third  Avenue  they  arc  below  the 
*  Bee  the  Sanitary  and  Topographical  Map  at  beginning  of  volume. — Editor. 


OLD  WATEE-COUESES  OBSTRUCTED. — STEEAMS  OF  FILTH.  327 


sewers.  The  condition  of  the  latter  is  difficult  to  ascertain,  but  most  of 
them  are  bridged  over  ;  the  sewer  running  a  number  of  feet  above.  These 
give  indications  of  their  insufficiency  to  carry  off  the  absorbed  waters,  as 
the  spongy  condition  of  the  ground  after  heavy  rains  in  these  localities 
clearly  shows.  The  cellars,  also,  in  the  vicinity  of  these  water-courses, 
if  they  have  not  a  direct  communication  with  the  sewer,  are  found  very 
damp,  giving  evidence  of  the  water  being  near  the  surface.  The  drain- 
age below  Sixtieth  Street  is  nearly  complete.  The  principal  streets  and 
avenues  are  sewered  and  paved.  All  the  sunken  lots,  with  but  few  ex- 
ceptions, are  filled  in  and  drained.  Above  Sixtieth  Street  the  drainage  is 
incomplete.  Only  a  few  of  the  streets  are  sewered,  not  any  paved,  many 
are  not  yet  cut  through,  and  a  large  part  not  graded.  The  topography  in 
this  section  of  the  ward  presents  many  original  features.  The  two  su- 
perficial water-courses  mentioned  above  are  as  yet  uncovered,  nor  are  they 
in  any  way  improved.  Fevers  caused  by  malaria  are  the  prevailing  dis- 
eases in  those  parts  of  the  districts  where  the  sewerage  and  drainage  is 
imperfect.  Above  Sixtieth  Street  agues  are  very  prevalent ;  also  around 
the  pools  of  stagnant  water  between  that  and  Fortieth  Street. 

Streets. — The  direction  of  the  streets  in  these  districts  is  east  and 
west.  The  direction  of  the  avenues  is  north  and  south.  The  width  of 
the  streets  is  60  feet,  with  the  exception  of  Forty-second,  Fifty-seventh, 
Seventy-ninth,  and  Eighty-sixth  Streets,  which  are  100  feet  wide.  The 
avenues  are  all  100  feet  wide,  with  the  exception  of  Lexington  Avenue. 
Most  of  the  streets  are  paved  with  trap-block  pavement,  cobble  stones 
now  being  seldom  used.  Some  of  the  streets  have  no  pavement,  especially 
those  above  Sixtieth  Street. 

The  surface  and  gutters  in  some  of  the  streets  are  allowed  to  remain 
in  a  very  filthy  condition  :  for  example,  Forty-third  Street,  between  Fourth 
and  Lexington  Avenue  ;  Forty-seventh  and  Forty-eighth  Streets,  between 
First  and  Second  Avenues  ;  Third  Avenue,  between  Forty-ninth  and  Fif- 
tieth Streets  ;  First  Avenue,  between  Fifty-fifth  and  Fifty-fourth  Streets, 
and  Fifty-fourth  Street  between  First  and  Second  Avenues.  The  influ- 
ence the  condition  of  these  streets  exerts  upon  the  public  health  is  very 
evident ;  the  children  found  here  have  a  strumous  appearance,  and  many 
of  them  are  constant  applicants  to  the  physician  for  relief.  Diarrhoea, 
cholera  infantum,  and  typhoid  fever  prevail  most  extensively  in  these 
localities,  where  the  air  is  rendered  impure  from  the  exhalations  of  gar- 
bage, house-slops,  etc.,  which  are  thrown  into  the  streets  and  gutters. 

Sewerage. — The  sewerage  below  Sixtieth  Street  is  quite  general ; 
above  that,  very  few  of  the  streets  are  sewered.  The  sewers,  as  far  as  can 
be  ascertained,  arc  in  a  very  fair  condition ;  they  empty  into  the  East 


328     REPORTS  OF  TWENTY-SIXTH  AND  TWENTY-SEVENTH  DISTRICTS. 

River  by  eight  openings  or  outlets,  viz. :  Forty-fifth,  Forty-seventh,  Forty- 
eighth,  Forty-ninth,  Fifty-fourth,  Sixty-first,  Seventy-ninth,  and  Eighty 
sixth  Streets.  These,  with  three  exceptions,  open  into  the  river  above 
high-water  mark.  (The  exceptions  are  Sixty-first,  Seventy-ninth,  and 
Eighty-sixth  Streets  sewers.)  Sewer  mouths  above  the  water  level  may 
be  objectionable.  The  sewer  gases  escaping  from  these  openings  before 
coming  in  contact  with  the  salt-water,  are  carried  back  into  the  city  by 
easterly  winds  ;  furthermore,  the  same  winds  force  back  these  gases  through 
the  sewers,  which,  escaping  through  "stench  pipes"  opening  on  the  tops 
of  houses,  and  often  through  defective  house-drainage,  the  outer  air  of  a 
densely-populated  neighborhood  becomes  tainted,  also  that  of  dwellings, 
so  that  disease  of  a  low  type  springs  up  as  it  were  from  the  grounds  :  these 
are  scrofula,  typhoid  fever,  cholera  infantum,  and  many  others,  upon  which 
medical  skill  is  unavailing,  unless  the  patients  are  removed  to  other  local- 
ities more  healthy. 

Squares. — In  the  two  districts  there  are  276  squares.  Of  these  but 
very  few  are  in  a  good  sanitary  condition ;  a  fourth  of  the  number  are 
in  a  bad,  and  the  remainder  in  a  faulty  condition. 

There  are  numerous  causes  which  render  these  squares  in  whole,  or 
in  part,  insalubrious  :  and  of  these  we  particularly  mention  defective  sew- 
erage and  drainage  of  the  houses,  and  very  defective  plumbing ;  the 
filthy  condition  of  some  streets  and  gutters,  the  old  wooden  boxes  on  the 
walk  used  as  the  receptacle  for  garbage  and  house-slops,  and  which  it  is 
impossible  to  keep  clean  ;  the  water-closets  in  the  rear  of  some  tenant - 
houses,  which  are  often  very  offensive  by  reason  of  the  leaders  from  the 
house-tops  emptying  into  them  during  heavy  rains ;  the  presence  of 
slaughter-houses  in  thickly-populated  neighborhoods  ;  vacant  lots  not  fenced 
in,  sunken  lots  with  stagnant  waters,  the  receptacles  for  the  washings  of 
water-closets,  etc.,  as  in  Second  Avenue,  between  Fifty-second  and  Fifty- 
third  Streets  ;  also  in  Fifty-sixth  Street,  between  Fourth  and  Lexington 
Avenues,  etc. 

Inhabitants. — The  general  character  of  the  inhabitants  is  good. 
About  three-fourths  are  the  working-class,  composed  mostly  of  Germans 
and  Irish.  There  are  about  an  equal  number  of  mechanics  and  laborers  ; 
the  larger  part  have  families  depending  on  them. 

Buildings. — Dwellings. — About  two-thirds  of  the  dwellings  in  these 
districts  arc  private  residence ;  that  is,  dwellings  containing  less  than 
three  families.  These  houses  are  comparatively  new,  nearly  all  of  them 
having  been  built  within  the  past  ten  years.  They  are  built  mostly  of 
brick,  with  brown-stone  fronts.  Average  height  three  stories.  The  drain- 
age is  generally  defective,  the  waste-pipes  in  most  of  the  houses  being 


trNVENTTLATED  TENEMENTS. 


329 


too  small ;  many  of  the  houses  have  no  direct  communication  with  the  sewer. 
Some  of  the  houses  in  the  upper  part  of  the  ward  have  no  cellars  nor  any 
means  for  ventilation  under  the  basement  floor.  The  water-supply  is  very 
good.  The  apartments  and  dormitories  in  nearly  all  of  the  private  resi- 
dences are  of  good*  size,  large  enough  for  health  and  convenience.  The 
ventilation  is  by  means  of  doors  and  windows.  Gas  is  used  almost  univer- 
sally for  lighting.  The  water-closets  of  the  private  residences  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  ward  are  located  in  the  house,  in  a  small  room  off 
the  hall  of  the  second  or  third  story,  basement-floor,  or  in  the  cellar.  In 
the  upper  part  of  the  ward  the  water-closets  are  located  mostly  in  the 
rear  yard. 

Tenant-Houses. — About  one-third  of  the  dwellings  are  tenant-houses, 
The  larger  proportion  of  these  houses  are  located  in  the  eastern  section  of 
the  ward,  viz.,  east  of  Third  Avenue.  They  are  built  mostly  of  brick,  and 
are  comparatively  new  ;  a  few  are  old  wooden  buildings.  The  average 
height  is  four  stories.  The  drainage  of  these,  as  of  the  private  residences, 
is  generally  defective.  About  half  the  houses  have  water  faucets  on  each 
floor ;  the  remainder  have  one  hydrant  in  the  yard,  which  supplies  the 
entire  house.  The  garbage  and  house-slops  are  variously  disposed  of ; 
sometimes  into  barrels  and  small  boxes,  sometimes  into  garbage-boxes 
on  the  walks,  but  too  frequently  thrown  into  the  streets  and  gutters,  or 
into  vacant  lots.  The  larger  proportion  of  the  water-closets  to  these 
houses  are  located  in  the  rear  yard.  Very  few  communicate  with  the 
sewer.  Some  of  these  are  kept  in  a  very  filthy  condition,  especially  if 
not  under  lock  and  key.  The  average  number  of  rooms  to  each  family 
is  three.  The  average  number  of  square  feet  of  floor  area  to  each  person 
is  40.  The  average  number  of  cubic  feet  of  air-space  to  each  person  in 
apartments  is  1,000.  The  ventilation  in  most  of  these  houses  is  very 
defective.  The  bedrooms  are  mostly  dark  middle  rooms,  with  only  a 
small  window  two  feet  square  opening  into  the  hall.  Some  have  no  win- 
dow at  all,  and  the  only  means  of  ventilation  is  a  door  opening  into  the 
living-room,  in  which  the  family  sit,  cook,  and  wash.  This  room  has 
generally  two  windows  opening  into  the  yard  or  street.  The  apartments 
are  mostly  heated  by  small  cooking  stoves,  and  the  method  of  lighting  is 
by  means  of  kerosene  oil. 

The  cellar-population  of  this  ward  is  proportionately  very  small,  the 
number  being  only  205.  The  average  number  of  cubic  feet  to  the  cellar- 
population  is  847. 

The  miserable  ventilation  of  tenant-houses — the  narrow  halls  and  pas- 
sages, which  sometimes  are  found  in  not  very  clean  condition,  water- 
closets  not  kept  in  good  order,  defective  drainage,  the  effluvia  from  old 


330     REPORTS  OF  TWENTY-SIXTH  AND  TWENTY-SEVENTH  DISTRICTS. 


wooden  garbage-boxes  on  the  walks,  the  filthy  state  of  streets  and  gutters 
and  of  vacant  lots  not  fenced  in,  dwellings  built  on  the  rear  of  lots,  pre- 
venting a  free  circulation  of  air  and  diffusion  of  sunlight,  water-closets 
placed  in  too  close  proximity  to  these  rear  houses.  These  and  many 
other  causes  not  only  tend  directly  to  deteriorate  the  health  of  residents 
of  such  tenant-houses,  but  also  to  imperil  the  sanitary  safety  of  the  city, 
and  help  to  swell  its  bills  of  mortality.  For  special  examples  illustrating 
this,  we  would  refer  to  our  Sanitary  Record-books  of  Sections  2Gth  and 
27th. 

Dram-shops. — There  are  200  places  in  the  ward  where  liquor  is  sold. 
No  brothels  or  gambling  saloons  exist  here,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained. 

Markets. — There  is  no  regular  market  in  this  ward.  A  good  one  is 
much  needed,  both  on  account  of  convenience  and  the  public  health. 

Factories. — There  are  about  40  factories  in  the  ward,  and  scarcely 
any  two  of  a  kind,  viz. :  ink,  piano-forte,  comb,  bone,  iron,  cloth, 
dyeing,  varnish,  paper,  cabinet-makers,  etc.,  etc.  Most  of  these  factories 
are  small,  and  have  very  little  influence  on  the  public  health.  The  ink 
factory  in  Sixty-first  Street  between  First  and  Second  Avenues,  may  be 
considered  as  a  nuisance  ;  it  sends  off  from  its  chimneys  a  kind  of  soot, 
which  renders  the  neighborhood  quite  objectionable.  There  arc  14  brew~ 
eries  in  this  ward.  They  all  communicate,  except  one,  by  drains  with  the 
sewer,  and  are  kept  clean. 

Slaughter-Houses,  etc. — Five  slaughter-houses  are  located  in  this 

ward.    The  one  in  Forty-fifth  Street  between  Third  and  Avenues  is 

the  most  objectionable.  It  is  located  in  the  midst  of  a  thickly-populated 
neighborhood ;  the  entrails,  manure,  hoofs,  etc.,  of  the  sheep  and  cattle 
slaughtered,  are  left  standing  in  the  yard  two  and  three  days  to  decom- 
pose. This  is  not  only  a  nuisance,  but  a  breeder  of  pestilence  to  the  resi- 
dents of  this  locality.  Several  cases  of  typhoid  fever  have  occurred 
recently  on  this  square. 

There  are  154  livery  and  private  stables  in  the  ward.  These,  as  a 
general  thing,  are  kept  clean  and  in  good  order.  We  find  2  fat-boiling 
establishments  in  the  ward,  located  at  the  foot  of  Forty-fifth  Street,  East 
River.  These  establishments  were  thoroughly  inspected.  They  are  con- 
sidered as  a  great  nuisance  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  whole  district. 

CntTRCnES,  etc. — There  are  21  churches,  3  public  schools,  1  dispen- 
sary, 7  asylums  and  hospitals,  and  1  college.  AU  these  institutions  are 
in  good  condition. 

Parks,  etc. — A  portion  of  the  Central  Park,  Jones' Woods,  Reservoir 
Park,  and  Hamilton  Park,  arc  located  in  this  ward,  and  all  kept  in  good 
condition.    There  arc  no  public  cemeteries,  piers,  basins,  and  a  very  few 


EVILS  AND  THEIR  REMEDIES. 


331 


wharfs  in  this  section  of  the  city.  The  vacant  ground  below  Sixtieth 
Street  is  mostly  fenced  in.  Sunken  lots  are  the  chief  ground  of  complaint 
in  this  ward.  They  are  mostly  above  Sixtieth  Street,  in  a  mixed  sanitary 
condition  ;  some  of  them  are  now  being  filled  in. 

Nuisances. — The  public  and  private  nuisances  in  these  districts  are 
not  as  extensive  and  aggravated  as  in  some  other  parts  of  the  city.  They 
may  be  summed  up  briefly  as  follows  :  The  fat-boiling  establishments  in 
Forty-fifth  Street,  East  River  ;  the  bone  factory  in  Fifty-third  Street  and 
First  Avenue ;  the  ink  factory  in  Sixty-first  Street  between  First  and 
Second  Avenues  ;  small  pig-stys  which  we  yet  find  here  and  there  through 
the  districts,  notwithstanding  the  frequent  complaints  of  the  citizens  con- 
cerning them ;  filthy  streets  and  gutters,  rendered  so  by  garbage  and 
slops  from  tenant-houses  ;  also,  the  modern  wooden  garbage-boxes  placed 
on  the  sidewalk ;  sunken  lots  with  pools  of  stagnant  water,  and  decay- 
ing animal  and  vegetable  matters  ;  and  we  may  add  with  propriety,  the 
"  stench  pipes  "  and  tin  leaders,  which  open  on  the  tops  of  many  of  the 
first-class  houses,  and  communicate  directly  with  the  sewer  by  way  of  the 
soil  pipes. 

The  first  three  of  these,  although  they  may  be  classed  under  the  head 
of  nuisances,  cannot  be  said  to  directly  affect  the  public  health  ;  they  are 
very  disagreeable,  and  render  the  neighborhood  for  many  squares  around 
offensive  by  reason  of  their  respective  emanations. 

The  others  are  not  only  nuisances  by  reason  of  the  odors  they  emit, 
but  they  taint  the  atmosphere  with  an  effluvium,  which  renders  the  im- 
mediate locality  a  nidus  for  disease,  and  a  favorable  place  for  the  spread- 
ing of  those  of  a  contagious  nature. 

Remedial  Measures. — Upon  this  last  head  we  have  endeavored  to 
study  with  great  care,  and  with  a  single  eye  toward  practicability.  The 
questions  under  this  head  are  by  far  the  most  difficult  of  any  proposed  by 
the  Council. 

The  topographical  peculiarities  of  the  surface  of  this  section  of  the 
island  renders  some  part  of  this  beyond  our  capability  to  advise,  as  it 
comes  only  within  the  province  of  a  practical  engineer.  We  shall  adhere 
as  closely  as  possible  to  our  theme,  viz. :  does  this  and  that  affect  the 
public  health,  and  in  what  manner  can  causes  of  insalubrity  be  removed? 
The  great  injustice  done  to  the  public  by  the  lack  of  care  for  the  old 
water-courses  and  drains,  may  best  be  remedied  by  placing  perforated 
earthen  pipes  a  few  feet  below  the  surface  of  cellars,  and  by  this  means 
convey  the  backed-up  waters  to  sewers  before  they  come  to  the  surface  of 
the  ground.  We  would  suggest  that  those  water-courses  still  remaining 
uncovered,  be  laid  with  these  same  pipes  of  a  large  size ;  and  by  this 
means  obviate  the  danger  of  their  being  stopped  up. 


332     EEPOETS  OF  TWENTY-SIXTH  AND  TWENTY-SEVENTH  DISTRICTS. 


IMPROVED  RECEIVINO  VESSEL  FOR  GARBAOE,  AND  IMPROVED  SOIL-PIPE  WITH 

DOUBLE  TRAPS,  ETC 


FOUL  GUTTERS  AND  POISONOUS  GASES. 


333 


The  gutters  in  front  of  second-class  tenant-houses  are  usually  in  a 
very  filthy  condition,  and  under  the  present  regulations  can  be  no  better. 
The  poor  have  no  ready  means  of  doing  otherwise  than  to  throw  their 
accumulated  garbage  in  the  gutters.  Garbage-boxes  of  wood  are  very 
offensive,  and  the  contents  of  them  are  often  spread  out  in  the  streets. 

We  would  recommend  that  a  garbage-box  be  made  of  cast-iron,  sunken 
in  the  sidewalk  about  twelve  inches,  and  connected  with  the  sewer  by 
means  of  a  soil-pipe  trapped.*  The  bottom  of  this  box  to  have  a  strainer, 
like  what  kitchen  sinks  are  provided  with,  only  much  larger  in  proportion, 
and  this  box  also  supplied  with  Croton-water  by  means  of  a  pipe  enter- 
ing within  about  25  inches  of  the  bottom.  The  box  would  also  be  closed 
on  top  by  an  iron  lid,  so  as  to  cover  the  contents  completely. 

This  fixture  would  leave  tenement  classes  without  an  excuse  for  their 
filthiness,  and  the  authorities  might  inflict  punishment  without  doing  any 
injustice.  The  object  of  this  box  is  to  furnish  a  receptacle  for  the  garbage 
without  creating  a  nuisance.  It  will  also  carry  off  the  fluids  of  it  directly 
into  the  sewer.  These  fluids  a  re  in  reality  the  most  offensive  part  of  the 
garbage,  and  are  the  chief  cause  of  complaint ;  they  often  run  more  than 
half-way  around  a  block  or  square  before  reaching  a  culvert. 

In  the  diagram  of  waste-pipes,  page  332,  is  seen  the  plan  we  would 

*  Improved  Receiving  Vessel  for  garbage  and  Improved  Soil-pipe  with  double  traps,  etc. 

EXPLANATION  OF  THE  FIGURES.   (Page  332.) 

The  Cast-iron  Garbage-Box  represented  in  this  drawing  is  for  the  use  of  tenant- 
houses  ;  dimensions,  2  x  4  x  3  (4  feet  long,  3  feet  deep,  and  2  feet  broad).  The  base  of  the 
vessel  is  of  cast-iron,  and  the  sides  and  two  lids  are  made  of  thick  boiler  iron.  The  lids 
are  hinged  in  the  middle  by  means  of  a  bolt.  This  will  give  strength,  and  will  allow 
the  lids  to  be  raised  from  either  end.  The  box  is  also  to  be  somewhat  oval,  in  the  bot- 
tom, supplied  by  a  strainer  [S  S],  and  a  waste-pipe  [W]  to  the  sewer  in  the  street,  so  that 
all  fluid  from  the  garbage  may  be  conducted  directly  away.  It  is  also  to  be  supplied  with 
Croton-water,  for  the  purpose  of  cleansing  when  the  garbage  is  removed.  This  is  to  be 
in  charge  of  the  Collector  of  garbage ;  the  water  is  to  be  turned  on  by  means  of  a  key 
reaching  below  the  curb-stone  [k  k],  the  pipe  to  pass  up  through  a  covered  groove  [g  g] 
inside  of  the  box  to  within  a  few  inches  of  the  top,  so  that  the  box  may  be  thoroughly 
cleansed  daily.  It  is  recommended  that  this  box  be  sunken  in  the  sidewalk,  along  the 
curb,  to  a  depth  of  about  18  inches,  or  half  its  height. 

Soil-pipes. — The  pipe  represented  by  Figure  1  is  the  one  in  use  at  present  in  the  city. 

Figure  2  with  the  stench-pipe  is  the  one  I  recommend.    It  answers  every  purpose. 

The  stench-pipe  runs  from  the  top  of  the  soil-pipe  to  the  top  of  the  house.  It  has  two 
objects :  first,  to  allow  a  full  escape  of  gases  through  the  soil-pipe ;  and  second,  it  prevents 
the  smaller  traps  in  the  dwelling-house  from  being  exhausted  of  water  when  a  large  column 
of  water  descends  through  the  soil-pipe.  It  is  furnished  with  a  large  trap  in  the  soil-pipe, 
a  few  feet  from  where  it  enters  the  drain  from  the  house.  This  will  prevent  any  sewer 
gases  from  rising  through  the  dwelling,  which  is  the  great  object  to  be  accomplished. 


334     REPORTS  OF  TWENTY-SIXTH  AND  TWENTY-SEVENTH  DISTRICTS. 

recommend  for  running  stench-pipes  from  the  top  of  waste-pipes  of  dwell- 
ings, and  extending  them  above  the  roof,  to  prevent  water  being  exhausted 
from  traps,  and  to  carry  off  offensive  gases  that  might  return  to  apartments. 

This  in  a  most  effectual  manner  makes  a  chimney  for  the  sewer,  and 
poisons  the  air  with  gases  that  we  most  desire  to  rid  ourselves  of.  If  the 
above  pipe  is  required  by  reason  of  small-sized  soil-pipes,  we  would  re 
commend  a  trap  to  be  placed  in  the  soil-pipe  on  the  cellar  floor. 

By  this  means  the  stench  or  gases  cannot  enter  the  house  at  all.  This 
we  would  desire  to  be  made  a  law  ;  that  every  house  should  have  a  trap 
in  the  drain  or  soil-pipe  on  the  floor  of  the  cellar,  so  that  if  the  smaller 
plumbing  of  the  house  should  be  defective,  the  noxious  gases  cannot  enter 
and  taint  the  air  of  dwellings.  Typhoid  fever,  obstinate  diarrhoea,  and 
gastric  difficulties,  may  thus  be  excluded  to  a  great  degree  from  private 
dwellings  and  tenant-houses. 

This  is  but  one  of  many  improvements  that  seem  to  be  immediately 
demanded  in  domestic  hygiene ;  and  whenever  the  principal  Govern- 
ment or  the  State  provides  for  the  systematic  investigation  into  the  nature 
and  causes  of  prevailing  diseases,  it  will  be  found  that  a  vast  proportion 
of  the  most  troublesome  and  fatal  maladies  arise  from  removable  causes, 
and  that  they  may  be  at  once  mitigated  or  altogether  prevented. 


Statistical  Recapitulation. 


Number  of  houses, 

2,827 

Dram-shops, 

200 

Number  of  squares, 

276 

Stores, 

532 

Private  dwellings, 

1,926 

Factories,  .... 

40 

Tenant-houses, 

901 

Breweries,  . 

14 

Shanties,  .... 

686 

Slaughter-houses, 

5 

Cellar  population,  . 

205 

Churches,      .       .       .  . 

21 

Population  of  the  ward, 

31,004 

Public  schools,      .  , 

3 

Adults,  .      .      .  , 

.  16,918 

Dispensary, 

1 

Children,  .... 

14,086 

Hospitals  and  asylums,  .  , 

7 

Stables, 

154 

EEPOET 


OP  THE 

TWENTY-EIGHTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


L.  A.  RODENSTEIN,  M.  D. , 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Bound akies. — This  district  is  the  northwestern  section  of  the  Twelfth 
Ward,  and  extends  from  Eighty-sixth  Street  to  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek,  and 
from  the  Hudson  River  to  Sixth  Avenue; — a  distance  of  5T17  miles  in 
length,  and  from  1£  to  1  mile  in  width. 

In  a  district  as  extensive  as  this,  including  a  greater  variety  of  topo- 
graphical conformations,  of  styles  of  buildings,  of  social  conditions  and 
modes  of  living,  than  any  other  district  in  the  city,  and  at  the  same  time 
covered  by  a  population  more  unequally  distributed  and  more  widely 
scattered,  it  is  more  difficult  to  collect  statistical  information,  and  less 
satisfactory  to  draw  conclusions  from  general  averages.  Full  details 
would  exceed  the  limits  allowed  to  this  report,  and  incomplete  statistics 
might  only  mislead  the  reader. 

Referring,  therefore,  to  the  detailed  reports  of  my  inspection,  I  shall 
here  present  only  the  great  outlines  and  prominent  features  of  this  district. 

Topography. — The  whole  district  may  be  represented  as  a  gradually 
rising  ascent,  with  abrupt  and  steep  sides,  whose  highest  point  is  Fort 
Washington.  This  slope  is  only  interrupted  by  a  deep  cut  or  valley  in 
which  the  village  of  Manhattanville  is  located.  At  one  time  a  branch  of 
the  Hudson  must  have  cut  through  the  range  of  hills  that  extends  the 
length  of  the  Island,  dug  a  bed  for  itself  across,  and  filled  with  sand, 
gravel,  and  alluvium,  the  plain  which  extends  from  the  western  terminus 
of  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Street,  through  Manhattanville,  along  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  to  Harlem  River,  and  down  around  the 
elevations  of  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Street  to  the  southern  part  of  the 
city. 


336 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-EIGHTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


The  rest  of  the  district  is  quite  hilly.  Primary  rocks  project  every- 
where through  the  superficial  soil.  The  principal  varieties  are  gneiss  and 
granite.  In  the  upper  part  of  the  district  quite  an  extensive  quarry  of 
crystaline  limestone  may  be  seen.  The  soil  is  generally  light  and  sandy, 
but  in  some  of  the  lower  depressions  of  the  ground  a  rich  vegetable  mould 
may  be  found,  and  in  a  few  places  a  strong  black  soil  amply  repays  the 
gardener  for  his  toil. 

The  general  aspects  of  the  country  present  still  some  of  its  natural 
scenery.  A  few  streets  have  been  cut  through  the  hills,  and  a  few  of  the 
avenues  partly  traverse  the  length  of  this  portion  of  the  Island.  In  the 
upper  part  of  the  district  fresh  country  air  may  still  be  inhaled,  and  the 
luxury  of  rural  enjoyments  indulged  in. 

In  this  district  no  land  has  been  made  or  reclaimed,  except  a  strip  of 
ground  known  as  the  "  Manhattan  Iron  Foundry,"  which  extends  from 
110  to  120  feet  into  the  North  River,  and  stretches  from  One  Hundred  and 
Forty-second  to  One  Hundred  and  Forty-sixth  Streets ;  it  is  composed  of 
the  refuse  of  the  furnaces — a  mixture  of  iron  ore  and  silex — and  exerts 
no  perceptible  influence  upon  the  health  of  the  neighborhood. 

A  number  of  small  streams  flow  from  the  interior  of  the  district  to  the 
Hudson  or  the  Harlem  River.  The  lowest  of  these  water-courses  takes 
its  rise  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway  and  One  Hundred  and  First  Street, 
slowly  winding  its  sluggish  way  through  a  piece  of  marshy  ground  to  the 
Eleventh  Avenue  and  Ninety-sixth  Street,  and  then  uniting  with  another 
branch  empties  itself  into  the  river  between  the  Eleventh  and  Twelfth 
Avenues. 

Near  the  source  of  this  stream  is  a  pond  of  stagnant  water,  situated 
between  One  Hundred  Third  and  One  Hundred  and  Fourth  Streets,  and 
the  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Avenues  ;  from  it  proceeds  another  stream,  and 
on  its  way  to  the  river  makes  those  well-known  marshes  near  the  Bloom- 
ingdale  Road,  on  One  Hundred  and  Fourth  Street  between  Tenth  and 
Eleventh  Avenues  ;  on  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-eighth ;  in  One  Hundred 
and  Forty-second  and  One  Hundred  and  Forty-third  Streets,  other  little 
rills  flow  in  a  more  or  less  direct  course  toward  the  North  River.  A 
more  considerable  water-course  takes  its  origin  in  One  Hundred  and 
Forty-ninth  Street  and  Tenth  Avenue,  and  runs  parallel  with  the  street 
to  the  west.* 

As  we  approach  Fort  Washington,  at  about  One  Hundred  and  Seventy- 
fifth  Street,  wc  meet  with  a  number  of  rivulets  intersecting  the  country. 

*  The  reader  may  consult  the  Sanitary  and  Topographical  Map  with  reference  to  this 
section  upon  the  medical  topography  of  this  district. — Editor. 


PONDS  AND  OBSTRUCTED  "WATER-COUKSES. 


337 


At  the  extreme  end  of  the  Island  where  the  waters  of  Spuyten  DuyvH 
unite  the  Hudson  and  the  Harlem  Rivers,  whole  acres  of  marsh-land  line 
the  shore  of  the  Creek.  There,  also,  is  an  artificial  water-course  in  that 
part  of  the  Island,  the  canal  or  sluice  which  runs  from  the  creek  to  the 
Harlem  River. 

At  Two  Hundred  and  Twelfth  Street  the  Harlem  River  forms  an  inlet 
in  which  a  considerable  body  of  water  pours  itself  from  a  stream  whose 
source  is  on  the  east  side  of  Eleventh  Avenue  near  Two  Hundred  and 
Eighth  Street.  About  thirteen  acres  are  there  covei'ed  with  boggy  ground. 
A  belt  of  marsh  extends  along  the  whole  course  of  the  Harlem  River 
down  to  McCombs  Dam,  but  it  does  not  form  the  immediate  shore  of 
the  river ;  it  lies  rather  to  the  rear  and  below  the  river  height.  The 
whole  neighborhood  is  swampy.  McCombs  Dam  is  an  inlet  which  cuts 
into  the  Eighth  Avenue,  extends  from  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fourth  to 
One  Hundred  and  Forty-ninth  Streets ;  this  place  is  subject  to  constant 
overflows  by  the  tide-water.  Further  back,  along  the  Sixth  and  Seventh 
Avenues,  are  other  marshes  covering  several  acres  of  ground.  These  are 
salt  marshes,  and  being  constantly  subject  to  the  action  of  the  tide  are  not 
deleterious  to  health. 

The  pond  of  stagnant  water  formed  by  an  old  canal  in  this  vicinity, 
constitutes  an  unmistakable  source  of  sickness.  This  work  was  intended 
to  sever  the  Island ;  it  runs  in  a  diagonal  direction  from  One  Hundred 
and  Seventeenth  Street  and  Sixth  Avenue  to  Tenth  Avenue  and  One 
Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street.  Being  found  an  impracticable  under- 
taking, it  has  long  since  been  abandoned ;  and  as  the  avenues  were  ex- 
tended to  this  portion  of  the  Island,  the  canal  was  intersected  and  the 
excavations  between  the  avenues  have  now  become  ponds  of  stagnant 
water.  Into  these  basins  the  melted  snow  and  the  rains  of  spring  are 
received,  and  when  summer  appears  and  "  the  Carrion-kissing  god  laps 
up  the  putrid  wave,"  nothing  remains  but  the  foul  sediments,  whose  nox- 
ious exhalations  blanch  the  cheek  of  health.  I  have  already  in  a  detailed 
report  enlarged  upon  this  matter,  and  I  cannot  too  emphatically  call  your 
attention  to  these  insalubrious  places  ;  for  as  surely  as  the  summer  sun 
makes  its  appearance,  so  surely  do  remittent  and  intermittent  fevers  rise 
in  the  miasmata  from  the  green  surface  of  those  stagnant  pools,  and  afflict 
the  people  who  live  around  them ;  nor  are  the  inhabitants  of  this  locality 
freed  from  these  maladies  until  in  the  change  of  the  seasons  the  ponds  are 
filled  and  purified  by  the  autumnal  rains  from  "  the  sweet  heavens." 

Streets. — Only  a  few  streets  have  been  laid  out  in  this  district. 
Bloomingdalc  Road  is  still  the  main  thoroughfare,  extending  from  Eighty- 
sixth  Street  to  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek  ;  it  is  a  macadamized  country  road, 
22 


338         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-EIGHTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

60  feet  wide,  has  no  sidewalks,  and  only  dirt-gutters,  which  are  generally 
filled  up.  The  Eleventh  Avenue  is  nominally  opened  from  One  Hundred 
and  Ninth  Street  to  One  Hundred  and  Forty-fifth  Street,  and  in  a  wretched 
condition.  The  Tenth  Avenue  is  used  for  the  aqueduct  of  the  Croton- 
water,  from  High  Bridge  to  One  Hundred  and  Seventh  Street ;  beyond  the 
aqueduct  the  avenue  has  no  improvements.  The  Eighth  Avenue  has, 
within  the  last  month,  been  made  passable  for  horse-cars  to  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-fifth  Street,  and  impassable  for  every  thing  else.  Beyond 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  to  McCombs  Dam  Bridge  it  is  a 
good  hard  road-bed  for  fast  driving.  The  avenue  presents  no  other  hy- 
gienic advantages.  Its  gutters  are  receptacles  for  stagnant  water,  not  for 
drainage.  The  Seventh  Avenue  is  graded,  guttered,  curbed,  and  has  one 
row  of  flags  for  its  sidewalk.  The  Sixth  Avenue  the  same.  Eighty- 
sixth  Street  runs  from  Hudson  River  to  Eighth  Avenue  ;  to  the  Tenth 
Avenue  it  is  a  rough  country  road ;  from  thence  to  the  Eighth  Avenue 
it  is  curbed  and  guttered,  and  has  a  sidewalk.  One  Hundredth  Street 
is  partially  opened,  is  in  a  most  miserable  condition,  filled  with  filth  of 
every  description.  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Street  extends  from  Bloom- 
in^dale  road  to  East  River,  is  now  being  graded,  and  is  almost  as  wretch- 
edly dirty  as  the  preceding  street.  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-third  and 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fourth  Streets  nominally  extend  from  Sixth  to 
Eighth  Avenues ;  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  extends  from 
Ninth  Avenue  to  East  River,  100  feet  wide,  macadamized,  and  makes 
pretensions  to  gutters  and  flag  sidewalks.  Manhattan  Street  intersects 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  at  the  Ninth  Avenue,  and  runs  in  a 
diagonal  direction  to  the  Hudson  River,  at  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth 
Street.  It  is  macadamized,  guttered,  and  flagged.  Laurence  Street  runs 
parallel  with  Manhattan  Street ;  it  is  a  country  road  with  flagged  side- 
walks from  Ninth  Avenue  to  the  river.  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-ninth 
Street  is  open  from  Ninth  Avenue  to  the  river,  and  from  Eighth  Avenue 
to  Harlem.  This  is  the  only  street  which  is  paved  ;  it  is  also  guttered, 
curbed,  and  has  flagged  sidewalks.  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Street  is 
opened  from  Ninth  Avenue  to  the  river,  and  has  flagged  sidewalks.  One 
Hundred  and  Thirty-seventh  Streot  is  guttered  and  open  from  Broadway 
to  the  river.  One  Hundred  and  Fortieth  and  One  Hundred  and  Forty-first 
and  One  Hundred  and  Forty-seventh  Streets  are  country  roads.  One 
Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Street  is  opened  from  Broadway  to  Tenth  Avenue, 
and  is  in  a  filthy  condition.  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-second  and  One 
Hundred  and  Fifty-sixth  Streets  arc  opened  from  Broadway  to  the  river, 
and  have  good  sidewalks. 

I  have  been  particular  in  enumerating  these  details,  for  they  have 


SHANTY  TILLAGES  AND  SMALL  COFFINS. 


339 


special  bearing  upon  the  health  of  the  localities  to  which  I  would  direct 
your  particular  attention — One  Hundredth  Street  to  One  Hundred  and 
Tenth  Streets,  from  Broadway  to  Tenth  Avenue.  Also  the  district 
bounded  on  the  south  by  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street,  on  the 
north  by  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-second  Street,  east  by  Ninth  Avenue, 
and  west  by  the  Hudson  River. 

One  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Street,  from  Tenth  Avenue  to  Broadway, 
and  Croton  Street,  between  Broadway  and  Eleventh  Avenue,  and  between 
One  Hundred  and  Seventy-sixth  and  One  Hundred  Seventy-seventh 
Streets,  are  the  sewers  in  which  disease  displays  its  most  fearful  ravages, 
and  mortality  reaps  its  heaviest  harvest ;  and  here  it  is  also  where  the 
streets  are  in  the  most  shocking  condition,  and  where  the  least  attention 
is  paid  to  those  facilities  and  precautions  which  the  requirements  of  pub- 
lic hygiene  demand.  Here  huddled  together  are  large  numbers  of  human 
beings  in  close  proximity  with  domestic  animals.  A  man  and  his  wife, 
with  four,  five,  or  six  children,  are  crowded  into  a  small  shanty,  with  the 
pig-stye  and  a  cow-shed  adjoining,  or  a  small  house  with  four  rooms  and 
a  basement  is  inhabited  by  five  families  with  cats,  dogs,  geese,  and  goats  ; 
and  a  number  of  these  dwellings  are  crowded  together  upon  the  smallest 
possible  space.  Filth  reigns  supreme  within  the  houses,  and  offal,  slops, 
and  garbage  are  emptied  into  the  streets,  or  thrown  into  the  back  yard, 
with  no  facilities  for  removing  the  accumulations  of  dirt  and  rubbish. 
There  they  remain  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  breeding  a  foul  and 
vitiated  atmosphere  which  predisposes  the  beings  who  inhale  it  to  every 
disease.  These  are  the  poor  haunts  of  the  district,  where  the  poisoned 
air  generates  sickness,  where  malignant  diseases  are  most  prevalent,  where 
even  the  most  trivial  indisposition  often  assumes  a  virulent  character. 

Sewers. — To  remove  the  fruitful  cause  of  disease  a  more  extensive 
system  of  sewerage  is  required.  There  are  at  present  but  few  sewers  in 
this  district.  One  extends  from  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Street  and 
Eighth  Avenue  to  the  East  River.  Another  commences  at  the  Tenth 
Avenue  and  Manhattan  Street,  empties  into  the  Hudson,  after  it  has 
effected  a  junction  with  one  running  from  Broadway  through  One  Hun- 
dred and  Thirtieth  Street.  The  last  begins  at  Tenth  Avenue  and  runs 
through  One  Hundred  and  Forty-second  Street  into  the  North  River. 
These  aro  all  of  the  oval  shape,  and  constructed  in  the  most  approved 
style.  They  are  excellent  but  not  sufficient,  for  a  district  which  embraces 
819  squares. 

Squares. — Only  3G9  squares  have  yet  been  laid  out,  the  others  (450 
in  number)  present  still  the  undisturbed  conditions  of  a  rural  district. 
By  far  the  larger  part  may  therefore  be  represented  as  in  a  salubrious 


340         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-EIGHTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


state  ;  for  naturally  there  are  few  local  causes  of  sickness  in  the  upper 
portion  of  the  Island,  the  succession  of  hills,  and  the  declination  of  the 
valleys  toward  the  rivers,  furnish  facilities  for  natural  drainage  which  are 
sufficient  to  carry  off  any  ordinary  deposits.  But  in  those  portions  of 
the  district  in  which  the  natural  conformation  of  the  surface  has  been 
disturbed  by  the  art  of  man  which  makes  the  city,  and  makes  it  badly  ; 
where  the  natural  elevations  and  depressions  have  been  obliterated  by  grad- 
ings,  and  streets  have  been  opened  without  gutters  or  insufficient  drainage  ; 
where  avenues  have  blocked  up  the  natural  flow  of  streams ;  where  the 
squares  between  streets  are  pits,  and  streets  look  like  causeways  over 
abysses  ;  where  an  incipient  city  defaces  Nature,  and  deprives  it  of  its  own 
provisions  for  restoring  the  equilibrium  of  its  disturbed  elements,  and  art 
has  not  yet  provided  any  substitute  for  the  natural  outlets  of  accumulated 
moisture  ;  there  we  find  the  habitats  of  malarious  fevers,  and  the  undertak- 
er's great  market-places  for  small  coffins. 

Where  the  district  still  preserves  the  air  and  appearance  of  the  coun- 
try, the  handsome  residences  of  the  wealthy  are  located,  and  these  local- 
ities are  generally  healthy.  But  the  laboring  classes  are  compelled  to 
seek  the  cheaper  tenements  in  the  shanty  villages  upon  undeveloped 
streets  ;  they  build  their  shanties  on  sunken  squares  filled  in  wet  weather 
with  standing  water,  and  were  it  not  for  the  Celtic  brogue  which  salutes 
your  ear,  you  might  take  them  for  some  of  the  old  Dutch  settlers  who 
still  wished  to  perpetuate  in  a  small  way  the  memory  of  their  ancestral 
dykes  and  canals. 

Inhabitants. — The  inhabitants  of  the  district  belong  generally  to  the 
poorer  and  laboring  classes.  Along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  are  the 
stately  mansions  of  the  rich,  with  the  usual  complement  of  domestic  ser- 
vants, gardeners,  hostlers,  coachmen,  stable-boys,  etc.  The  inner  portion 
of  the  island  is  dotted  with  public  institutions  and  small  settlements  of 
laborers.  The  Irish  predominate,  and  next  come  the  Germans  ;  other  na- 
tionalities are  also  represented.  Many  of  them  work  in  the  Central  Park, 
others  in  the  factories,  foundries,  or  on  the  public  roads. 

Buildings. — The  dwellings  of  the  laboring  classes  arc  the  usual  ten- 
ant-house and  the  shanty.  Cleanliness  is  their  great  want.  In  such 
streets  as  One  Hundrcth,  One  Hundred  and  Tenth,  and  Laurence  Street, 
and  others,  the  accumulations  of  garbage,  slops,  and  filth,  are  indescribable. 
In  those  localities  a  dense  population  is  closely  huddled  together.  As  wo 
drive  along  the  Bloomingdale  Road  as  far  as  Fort  Washington,  and  view 
the  elegant  residences  beyond  the  extended  lawns  and  gardens  that  skirt 
the  road,  it  seems  improbable  that  almost  opposite  to  one  of  the  hand- 
somest lodges  and  finest  residences  the  most  loathsome  and  filthy  lane  of 


PREVALENT  MALADIES. — PREVALENT  CAUSES. 


341 


the  island  extends  ;  and  yet  in  Croton  Street  are  more  human  beings 
crowded  together  than  inhabit  all  the  proud  mansions  that  crest  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson  from  one  end  of  the  district  to  the  other.  The  packing  oi 
that  little  street  can  only  be  equalled  by  a  Third  Avenue  railroad  car. 
Men,  women,  and  children,  dogs,  cows,  pigs,  goats,  geese,  ducks,  and 
chickens  are  almost  promiscuously  mixed  together.  The  street  is  rank 
with  filth  and  stench,  and  the  consequence  is  that  mortality  holds  high 
carnival  there  ;  and  diseases  which  are  comparatively  trivial,  and  readily 
yield  to  remedies  in  better  homes  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  in  this 
street,  unsewered,  unguttered,  reeking  with  filth,  destitute  of  Croton- 
water,  assume  a  virulent  character,  and  not  unfrequently  defy  all  treat- 
ment. 

The  dwellings  of  this  district  are  of  a  very  diversified  description. 
They  consist  of  229  family  residences,  and  are  generally  spacious  wooden 
buildings.  Gas  has  been  introduced  into  most,  Croton  into  some,  and  all 
have  sinks  for  water-closets. 

Tenant-houses. — There  are  42  large  tenant-houses,  710  single  tenant- 
houses,  and  313  shanties.  The  latter  two  classes  of  buildings  are  very 
slightly  built,  many  have  the  evident  marks  of  wear  and  tear  ;  there  is 
generally  no  water  drainage,  no  removal  of  garbage,  and  the  water-closets 
are  built  on  the  top  of  the  ground.  There  are  121  saloons  ;  of  these  14 
are  hotels.  There  are  107  dram-shops  ;  filthy  holes  where  the  worst  of 
intoxicating  liquors  are  sold.  They  are  "  dispensaries  of  poison."  "We 
have  in  this  district  in  addition,  1  paint  factory,  1  candle  factory,  2  iron 
foundries,  1  sugar  refinery,  2  breweries.  To  these  establishments  there 
can  be  no  objection  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view.  Contrary  to  what 
might  be  expected,  the  workmen  of  the  paint  factory  are  exceedingly 
healthy.  Some  of  the  operatives  have  grown  old  in  the  service ;  some 
have  worked  there  twenty-five,  others  twenty  years.  In  former  years 
"  painters'  eholic"  was  prevalent  among  them,  but  since  the  lead  is  being 
ground  under  water,  or  in  oil,  which  prevents  the  particles  from  flying  into 
the  air,  the  factory  has  been  singularly  free  from  that  malady. 

Slaughter-Pens. — There  are  7  slaughter-houses  in  the  district.  Those 
in  Manhattanville  are  badly  kept,  and  have  been  complained  of  as  nui- 
sances. 

Public  Institutions. — Of  public  buildings  we  have  13  churches,  4 
public  schools,  1  college  (Manhattanville),  the  "Sheltering  Arms"  (a 
charitable  institution),  1  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  1  Colored  Orphan  Asy- 
lum, 1  Insane  Asylum,  the  Leake  and  Watt  (Orphan)  Asylum,  the  Con- 
vent of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  the  Manhattanville  Dispensary.  All  these 
institutions  are  conducted  in  an  admirable  manner  with  regard  to  the  ob- 


342         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-EIGHTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

servancc  of  hygienic  principles.  Trinity  Cemetery  is  one  of  the  best  kept 
interment  grounds,  and  has  no  perceptible  influence  on  public  health. 

Prevailing  Diseases. — The  following  diseases  have  prevailed  during 
the  last  season  :  Cholera  infantum  has  prevailed  very  fatally  in  One  Hun- 
dreth  Street,  between  Broadway  and  Ninth  Avenue  ;  and  out  of  33  cases, 
19  have  terminated  fatally.  In  Manhattanville  the  same  disease,  with 
the  same  general  characteristics,  has  been  attended  by  the  same  fatal  con- 
sequences. We  have  to  contend  with  many  disadvantages  in  the  practice 
of  medicine  among  the  laboring  population  who  inhabit  these  neighbor- 
hoods. They  are  chiefly  Irish  and  Germans  of  the  lower  class,  and  the  evils 
we  have  to  encounter  arise  partly  from  the  moral  dispositions  of  these  two 
nationalities.  The  Irish,  with  their  proverbial  carelessness,  will  act  utterly 
heedless  of  medical  advice  ;  neglect  and  absolutely  expose  their  children 
to  inclement  weather  in  winter,  or  the  vertical  rays  of  the  sun  in  summer. 
The  Germans,  on  the  contrary,  can  never  be  careful  enough  ;  close,  over- 
heated rooms,  feather  beds  above  and  beneath  them,  and  exclusion  from 
the  fresh  air,  they  deem  essential  to  the  treatment  of  theii;  sick.  Of  the 
two  evils  I  prefer  the  Irishman's  carelessness  ;  for  the  patient  has  at  least 
a  chance  of  getting  fresh  air,  while  among  the  Germans  I  have  known 
patients  to  be  actually  smothered  to  death.  This  is  merely  a  few  of  the 
single  circumstances  which  increase  the  fatality  in  the  two  localities  to 
which  I  have  here  referred.  The  crowded  condition  of  the  houses,  with  the 
close,  vitiated  atmosphere,  is  another  which  accelerates  the  fatal  progress 
of  disease ;  but  I  may  state  it  as  my  deliberate  opinion,  that  the  noxious 
vapors  and  miasmatic  exhalations  from  stagnant  water,  and  the  foul  ef- 
fluvia from  decaying  vegetables  and  putrid  offal,  contribute  more  than  any 
other  causes  to  the  production  of  malarious  fevers,  and  the  malignant  and 
fatal  tendency  of  diarrhccal  and  other  diseases,  which,  under  other  cir- 
cumstances, yield  readily  to  medical  agencies.  For  illustrations  I  have  here 
pointed  to  those  two  localities.  They  are  alike  in  every  particular,  and 
although  separated  by  the  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half,  they  correspond 
in  all  the  main  conditions  that  affect  their  salubrity.  They  are  of  the 
same  elevation,  populated  by  the  same  class  of  people,  surrounded  by  the 
same  sources  of  miasmatic  influences,  pools  of  stagnant  water,  the  inhab- 
itants occupy  the  same  class  of  buildings,  live  in  the  same  kind  of  over- 
crowded, over-heated  rooms,  and  are  addicted  to  the  same  unfortunate 
habits  of  drinking.  The  streets  are  distinguished  by  the  same  general 
features  of  filth  ;  of  course  the  same  results  follow  in  both  places.  Chol- 
era infantum  has  made  havoc  among  the  children  of  these  neighborhoods. 
Diphtheria  prevailed  last  year,  and  was  very  fatal,  and  the  scene  of  its 
devastation  was  the  very  region  where  cholera  infantum  proved  so  fatal. 


EVILS  AND  REMEDIES. 


343 


Miasmatic  Feveks. — Any  one  exposed  to  the  miasmatic  influence  of 
marshy  lands  is  liable  to  contract  these,  the  rich  and  the  poor ;  those  liv- 
ing on  the  highest  points  of  the  district,  and  those  who  live  on  the  level 
with  the  rivers,  have  alike  been  more  or  less  afflicted  with  these  fevers.* 

Statistics  of  intermittent  fevers  extracted  from  the  Manhattan  Dispensary 

record : 


During 

the  month  of 

May  one  in  every  . 

.  3.33 

M 

a 

June 

C( 

3.50 

u 

tt 

July 

a 

.  3.25 

(( 

n 

August 

n 

3.67 

(( 

it 

Sept. 

n 

.  3.20 

K 

u 

Oct. 

a 

2.50 

t< 

a 

Nov. 

It 

.  4.75 

« 

u 

Dec. 

u 

5.20 

But  there  is  a  fact  in  the  history  of  diseases  here  which  ought  not  to 
escape  our  observation.  In  those  insalubrious  localities  to  which  I  have 
referred,  malarious  disease  assumes  a  peculiar  phase,  and  displays  de- 
cided typhoid  characteristics.  And  being  already  predisposed  to  disease, 
with  a  body  enfeebled  by  deep  and  oft-repeated  draughts  of  villanous 

*  The  inspector  of  the  Twenty-eighth  District  has  submitted  a  very  carefully-prepared 
map  to  illustrate  the  medical  topography  of  that  important  section  of  the  island  from  re- 
cent surveys,  the  essential  points  of  which  will  be  found  upon  the  Sanitary  Map  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  volume.  A  supplementary  report  upon  the  sickness  and  mortality  records 
of  the  public  institutions  in  that  district  has  also  been  submitted.  As  the  latter  is  too 
lengthy  for  publication  in  this  volume,  we  present  the  following  abstract  of  some  of  these 
records  to  illustrate  the  practical  bearing  of  Dr.  Rodenstein's  suggestions  respecting  the 
causes  of  malarious  diseasesjn  the  upper  portion  of  the  island : 


The  average  number  of  patients  in  the  Bloomingdalc  Lunatic  Asylum,  the  past  year, 

has  been   162 

Total  number  of  Do.  sick  with  malarious  fever  in  Do   16 

Total  number  of  inmates  of  the  Leake  and  Watt's  Orphan  Asylum  is   169 

Is  located  on  improved  grounds,  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Street,  Ninth  and 
Tenth  Avenues.    No  malarious  fever  reported. 

Total  number  of  inmates  in  the  Juvenile  Asylum   505 

Is  located  on  most  elevated  grounds  at  Fort  Washington.    Reports  but  98  cases 
of  sickness  during  the  year,  and  but  one  case  of  malarious  fever. 

Total  number  of  children  in  the  Colored  Orphan  Asylum   209 

Is  located  on  One  Ilundred  and  Fifty-first  Street,  North  River.    Total  number 

of  cases  of  sickness,  196 ;  number  of  cases  of  malarious  fever   33 


— Editor. 


S4A         REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY-EIGHTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 

liquors,  and  a  low  degree  of  vitality  induced  by  unwholesome  food,  etc., 
they  fall  easy  victims  to  the  ravages  of  fever. 

The  progress  of  small-pox  infection  has  been  checked  by  vaccination. 
For  a  short  time  typhoid  fever  spread  very  rapidly  in  One  Hundred  and 
Tenth  Street.  This  street  extends  from  Broadway  to  Tenth  Avenue,  and 
on  each  side  is  a  row  of  small  single  tenements  numbering  in  all  about 
27.  Each  has  four  small,  badly-ventilated  rooms,  Ughted  by  kerosene, 
and  heated  by  stoves.  The  street  has  neither  pavement  nor  gutter.  The 
garbage  and  slops  are  thrown  in  front  of  the  houses.  Here,  then,  was 
the  fuel  for  fever  ;  the  spark  was  added  by  the  importation  of  a  case  of 
typhoid  fever  from  the  army.  In  a  very  short  time  about  one-tenth  of 
the  population  were  seized  by  the  fever,  and  about  one-fourth  of  these 
died. 

In  concluding  this  report,  if  I  were  to  suggest  any  remedial  measures, 
I  should  simply  ask,  let  there  be  no  new  contracts  granted  for  the  opening 
of  new  streets  until  some  security  is  given  that  their  improvement  will  be 
completed  in  such  manner  as  to  preserve  the  public  health.  The  few 
streets  that  now  exist  in  this  district  should  be  paved  and  guttered  ;  the 
ponds  and  marshes  and  all  stagnant  waters  should  be  thorougly  drain- 
ed to  the  rivers,  and  the  low  places  filled  up.  Sewers,  or  a  proper  system 
of  dry-gathering  in  garbage  and  waste-carts,  should  be  provided,  and, 
most  important  of  all,  there  should  be  an  efficient  medical  or  sanitary  po- 
lice on  daily  duty. 


REPORT 


OF  THE 

TWENTY-NINTH  SANITARY  INSPECTION  DISTRICT. 


JOSEPH   0.   FARRINGTON,  M.D., 

Sanitary  Inspector. 


Boundaries. — North  by  Harlem  River,  east  by  the  East  River,  south 
by  Eighty-sixth  Street,  and  west  by  the  Sixth  Avenue. 

Harlem,  and  the  greater  part  of  Yorkville,  are  included  in  this  district. 
The  lay  of  the  land  is,  with  the  exception  of  the  southern  margin,  re- 
markably level.  The  elevated  portion  includes  a  tier  of  squares  border- 
ing on  Central  Park  and  Eighty-sixth  Street,  and  the  single  square  known 
as  Mount  Morris.  "With  the  exception  of  these  parts  the  entire  district  lies 
but  little  above  the  tide-level,  and  has  very  much  the  appearance  of  having 
been  originally  submerged.  The  evenness  of  the  surface,  the  alluvial 
character  of  the  deposits,  the  direction  of  the  water-courses  still  remain- 
ing, the  absence  of  forest  trees,  all  indicate  that  the  water  once  flowed 
across  the  island  from  the  North  River  through  the  gap  at  Manhattan- 
ville  to  Hell  Gate.  In  fine,  the  topography  of  the  district  is  just  such  as  to 
have  gladdened  the  eyes  of  the  original  Dutch  settlers.  It  must  have 
forcibly  reminded  them  of  their  almost  inundated  fatherland,  and  accounts 
for  its  receiving  the  name  of  Haarlem,  after  one  of  their  principal  cities. 

Streets. — The  avenues  run  northeast  and  southwest,  and  the  streets 
cut  them  at  right  angles.  The  former  are  all  100  feet  wide  except  the 
Fourth  Avenue,  which  is  140.  The  streets  are  CO  feet  in  width,  with  the 
exception  of  a  street  at  an  interval  of  every  half  mile,  which  is  100  feet, 
e.  g.,  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street  and  One  Hundred  and  Six- 
teenth Street. 

One  Hundred  and  Twenty-ninth  Street  is  paved  with  cobble  stone,  and 


346 


REPOET  OF  THE  TWENTT-NEOTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT. 


the  Third  Avenue  is  macadamized.  The  other  streets  and  avenues  are 
simply  graded. 

Sewerage. — The  few  sewers  constructed  are  all  of  the  oval  kind,  and 
have  their  outlets  above  low-water. 

Squares. — The  whole  number  of  squares  and  parts  of  squares  is  256. 
Of  these  fully  200  are  in  a  good  sanitary  condition,  well-drained  and  free 
from  any  sources  of  preventable  disease  and  mortality.  The  remainder, 
in  consequence  of  their  being  low  and  sunken,  or  containing  ponds  of  stag- 
nant water,  are  in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition.  On  and  around  all  these 
last-named  squares  there  is  a  tendency  to  intermittent  fever,  and  they  will 
continue  to  be  insalubrious  until  the  streets  are  sewered  and  the  ponds 
drained  or  filled  up.  "Wherever  this  has  been  already  done  the  Inspector 
has  observed  a  marked  improvement  in  the  health  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. 

Inhabitants. — It  would  probably  be  safe  to  say  that  the  population 
of  the  district  has  doubled  during  the  last  five  years.  This  has  been 
mainly  due  to  the  increased  facilities  for  travel  afforded  by  the  Second  and 
Third  Avenue  Railroads  and  the  Harlem  line  of  Steamboats.  The  na- 
tionalities represented  are  about  equally  the  American,  the  Irish,  and  the 
German.  The  American  element  is  fully  equal  to  all  others  combined, 
and  the  laboring  class  embraces  about  one-half  the  entire  population. 
The  general  character  of  the  inhabitants  is  that  of  a  well-to-do,  law- 
abiding,  orderly,  and  church-going  community. 

Buildings. — The  whole  number  of  houses  is  1820.  Of  these  1,360 
are  dwellings,  occupied  by  one  or  two  families  ;  160  are  tenements,  con- 
taining three  or  more  families  ;  110  are  drinking  saloons  ;  172  grocery  or 
other  stores,  and  19  markets.  There  are  also  330  shanties,  occupied  by 
Irish  families,  who  are  known  as  "  squatters."  They  locato  upon  un- 
opened streets  or  vacant  lots,  build  their  rude  one-story  cabins,  raise  chil- 
dren, pigs,  and  potatoes,  and  maintain  their  squatter  sovereignty  until  com- 
pelled by  the  city  or  proper  owners  to  vacate  the  premises. 

The  district  being  beyond  the  fire-limits,  the  principal  material  used  in 
building  has  been  wood.  At  present,  however,  brick  and  brown-stone  are 
more  in  demand,  and  whole  blocks  of  substantial  brick  and  stone  dwell- 
ings have  already  been  erected.  Nearly  all  the  houses  have  gas  and 
Croton-watcr,  and  those  of  recent  building  contain  all  the  modern  im- 
provements. 

About  one  house  in  every  eleven  and  a  half  is  a  tenement.  The  general 
character  of  these  tenements,  which  contain,  on  the  average,  five  or  six 
families,  is  good.  Their  location,  ventilation,  water-supply,  and  drainage, 
are,  on  the  whole,  conducive  to  the  health  of  the  inmates.    They  aro 


DISEASES. — IMPROVEMENTS. — REMEDIES. 


347 


rarely  overcrowded,  and  present  few,  if  any,  of  the  objectionable  features 
of  houses  of  a  similar  kind  in  the  heart  of  the  city. 

The  whole  number  of  drinking  saloons  is  110,  or  one  for  every  sixteen 
and  a  half  houses.    Of  these  fully  one-half  are  common  dram-shops. 

Nuisances. — Ponds  of  stagnant  water  constitute  the  worst  nuisances. 
They  are  found  on  some  of  the  low  and  sunken  squares,  and  which, 
as  above  remarked,  exert  a  deleterious  influence  upon  the  health  of  those 
living  near  them. 

Diseases. — With  the  exception  of  intermittent  fever  there  has  been 
no  prevailing  disease  during  the  past  season,  and  this  has  been  chiefly 
confined  to  the  insalubrious  squares  indicated  as  low  and  sunken. 

The  condition  of  the  streets  and  gutters  has  also,  through  the  praise- 
worthy exertions  of  Mr.  Thomas  Miller,  the  efficient  Deputy  Street 
Inspector,  been  much  improved,  and  other  causes  of  insalubrity  would 
at  once  be  removed  if  he  had  the  power  to  act. 

Improvements. — During  the  past  year  the  following  improvements 
of  a  noteworthy  character,  as  bearing  upon  the  sanitary  condition  of 
the  district,  have  been  made.  A  large  pond  of  stagnant  water  in 
Second  Avenue,  near  One  Hundred  and  Fourteenth  Street,  has  been 
filled  up.  Also  a  similar  pond  on  the  First  Avenue,  between  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-first  and  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-second  Streets, 
has  been  drained  by  laying  a  pipe  from  it  to  the  sewer  in  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-second  Street.  The  following  sewers  have  likewise 
been  built :  In  One  Hundred  and  Twenth-ninth  Stri  et,  from  the  Sixth, 
to  the  Third  Avenue ;  in  Third  Avenue,  from  <  ne  Hundred  and 
Eighteenth  Street  north  to  the  river,  or  more  than  half  a  mile  long ; 
in  Third  Avenue,  from  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  to  One  Hundred 
and  Eighth  Street,  where  it  connects  with  the  "Harlem  Canal;"  in 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  Street,  from  Third  Avenue  east  to  the 
river  ;  and  in  First  Avenue,  from  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  to  One  Hun- 
dred and  'Eighteenth  Street,  and  through  the  last-named  street  to  the 
river. 

Remedial  Measures. — The  undersigned  would  recommend  the  speedy 
filling  up  of  all  low  and  sunken  lots,  the  draining  of  ponds  of  stagnant 
water,  and  the  sewering  of  the  avenues  and  streets  adjacent  to  the  squares 
which  are  positively  insalubrious.  When  this  is  done  the  district  will 
compare  in  general  healthfulness  with  any  other  on  the  Island. 

Tabulated  Statement. — The  following  table  will  exhibit  at  a  glance 
the  statistical  results  of  the  inspection,  the  whole  district  being  divided 
into  eight  belts  by  the  avenues,  and  extending  from  the  river  south  to 


•64:8 


REPORT  OF  THE  TWENTY -NINTH  SANITARY  DISTRICT 


Eighty-sixth  Street.  (See  Map  in  front  of  "  Sanitary  Inquiry,"  Dis- 
trict No.  29,  Twelfth  Ward.) 


Statistical  Recapitulation. 


Squares. 

o 

0 
o 
W 

Shanties. 

Rear 
Buildings. 

Tenant- 
Houses. 

Bt 

£  o 

q£ 

© 

N 
O 

33 

i 

Factories. 

1 

00 

o 

a 

O 

Schools.  1 

1st  Belt  (bet.  6th  and  5th  Avs.) 

28 

120 

6 

4 

5 

1 

1 

20 

2 

2d  Belt  (bet.  5th  and  4th  Avs.) 

50 

246 

192 

26 

30 

21 

5 

i 

2 

51 

3d  Belt  (bet.  4th  and  3d  Avs.) 

46 

722 

80 

48 

81 

60 

97 

8 

9 

64 

9 

1 

4th  Belt  (bet.  3d  and  2d  Avs.) 

45 

434 

8 

19 

36 

31 

65 

8 

3 

54 

4 

4 

5th  Belt  (bet.  2d  and  1st  Avs.) 

42 

88 

19 

14 

6 

4 

2 

1 

31 

1 

6th  Belt  (bet.  1st  Av.  and  Av.  A) 

28 

122 

23 

2 

3 

2 

2 

3 

13 

7th  Belt  (bet.  Avs.  A  and  B). . 

15 

87 

2 

2 

20 

8th  Belt  (bet.  Av.  B  and  river) 

2 

1 

2 

Totals  

256 

1820 

330 

111 

160 

110 

175 

19 

20 

255 

16 

5 

349 


Statistical  Summary  of  the  Tenant-Houses  and  Cellars,  and  the  Distri- 
bution and  Statistics  of  their  Population,  etc.,  in  the  City  of  New 


York,  at  the  close  of  the 

year 

1864. 

a 

<u 

a 

a 

$ 

and 

-a 

E 

"WAKDS. 

No.  of  Tenant-House 

No.  of  Families  in  1 
ant-Houses. 

ige  No.  of  Families 
each  House. 

Population  in  Ten 
Houses. 

a 

a 
o 

w 

c 

bp 

03 

Cellar  Population. 

Population  in  Cellars 
Tenant-Houses. 

No.  of  Tenant-Hoi 
without  Sewers. 

Population  in  TJn=ew< 
Houses. 

"o 

3 

B 
> 

GB 

o 

Eh 

3 
t- 

'a 

EH 

o 
EH 

< 

H 

<1 

0 
fH 

0 
H 

0 
E-i 

0 
EH 

250 

2,181 

8,564 

341  + 

498 

9,002 

89 

2,606 

54 

310 

6* 

1,248 

24i 

57 

1,805 

28 

640 

4S6 

3,636 

n 

17,611 

35 1  + 

346 

17,957 

151 

4,473 

4(12 

2,597 

5* 

10,370 

24?  + 

836 

11,206 

293 

5,796 

G05 

4,406 

n 

22,401 

34i— 

496 

22,897 

214 

6,612 

62T 

4,5S6 

n 

19.293 

30S 

1,233 

20,526 

409 

10.9.53 

625 

3,977 

15,630 

25  + 

1,258 

16.888 

802 

6.530 

596 

3,S36 

6* 

9 

14,955 

25^3 

217 

15.172 

208 

4,4S5 

534 

4,487 

18,140 

34— 

453 

18,583 

110 

2,953 

2,049 

13,433 

Ci 

64,254 

31A 

1,366 

65,620 

403 

10,026 

540 

3,729 

6} 

14,997 

27£ 

939 

15,936 

215 

5,0S9 

546 

4,509 

8* 

20,008 

363- 

417 

20,425 

207 

6,202 

19T 

1,358 

7 

4,970 

25— 

235 

5,205 

72 

1,237 

1.257 

7,08S 

5! 

31,500 

25  + 

2,150 

33,650 

300 

7,107 

L890 

15,974 

b| 

63,766 

34|  + 

2,441 

66,207 

155 

4,596 

S36 

7,267 

Si 

35,869 

42?- 

230 

36.099 

98 

3,766 

571 

3,632 

6* 

16,067 

28i  + 

205 

16,272 

81 

1,912 

1,162 

8,344 

32,205 

27j 

1,013 

33.21S 

291 

7,968 

1,026 

7.299 

7 

36,675 

351— 

135 

36,S70 

114 

4,491 

996 

7,714 

Ti 

31,845 

32— 

699 

32,544 

162 

3,233 

This  Table  presents  the  Statistics  of  Tenant-Houses,  as  reported  by  the  Sanitary  In- 
spectors of  the  Council  of  Hygiene,  and  verified  in  a  recent  inspection  by  the  Metropoli- 
tan Police. 

The  total  number  of  tenant  houses,  none  of  which  contain  less  than  three  families, 
who  hire  their  apartments  by  monthly  or  very  brief  periods  of  rental,  is  15,511.  This 
exceeds,  by  202,  the  number  which  the  Council  of  Hygiene  as  well  as  the  Metropolitan 
Police  has  elsewhere  given. 

The  total  population  of  these  tenant-houses  at  the  time  of  last  inspection,  was  480,000 

The  total  population  in  cellars  was   15,224 

Total  in  tenant-houses  and  in  cellars  501,224 

Note. — The  Sanitary  Inspectors  of  the  Twelfth  Ward  report  that  there  arc  202  tenant- 
houses  of  the  larger  class  (averaging  more  than  six  families  in  a  house)  in  that  Ward.  In 
the  same  Ward  there  are  G43  inhabited  shanties,  and  710  other  tenements  of  a  poor  class, 
but  not  having  three  families  each,  consequently  not  counted  in  the  statistics  of  tenant- 
houses. 


INDEX. 


Abbatoeis,  of  Paris,  described  as  Sanitary  Insti- 
tutions, &c,  xciv. 

Accidents  on  the  city  railroads,  generally  caused 
by  intemperance,  810. 

AcmsoN,  Dr.  J.  C,  Sanitary  Inspector,  110 ;  on 
the  medical  topography  of  the  Thirteenth 
Ward.  HI;  classification  of  buildings  by,  112 ; 
prevailing  diseases — reactive  evils  by,  113; 
remedial  measures  suggested  by,  114;  when 
reforms  must  begin,  115. 

Aggeegation  of  population  in  cities,  xxxviii ;  of 
tenant-houses  and  its  evils,  cxxxii. 

Alcoholic  drinks,  bad  quality  of,  10,  54,  137, 167, 
201,  214,  311 ;  poisonous  air  in  crowded  tene- 
ments begets  a  desire  for,  54,  221 ;  diseases 
induced  by  the  use  of,  55,  81, 123, 137, 201 ;  con- 
sumed at  unreasonable  hours,  137 ;  indulged 
in  by  numbers  of  both  sexes,  167,  250  ;  lead  to 
riot,  misery,  and  crime,  214,  250 ;  habitual  us« 
of,  renders  diseases  more  apt  to  terminate  un- 
favorably, 311. 

Ate,  how  poisoned  in  dwellings,  cxxxiii-cxxxiv. 

Alleys,  filthy  condition  of,  101, 179;  dampness  of, 
137;  used  for  surface  drainage,  188;  inaccessi- 
ble between  rear  tenements,  193 ;  in  the  nine- 
teenth district,  225. 

Apaetments,  .  dimensions  of,  7,  39,  47,  68,  86, 121, 
149,  190,  198;  filthy  condition  of,  in  tenant- 
houses,  68;  defective  ventilation  of.  101,  190, 
244;  overcrowding  of,  271;  its  effects  upon 
children,  271;  effluvia  in,  199,  243;  of  rear 
tonements,  244;  want  of  light  and  ventilation 
in,  of  rear  tenements,  245. 

Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor,  its  sanitary  work  and  advice,  lxxii — 
lxxiv;  its  special  report  on  sanitary  wants  of 
the  laboring  classes,  lxxxiii. 

Asstlums,  the  Lying-in,  89;  the  Half  Orphan,  138 ; 
Home  for  Young  Women  and  Children,  139  ; 
for  Soldiers'  Children,  315;  Deaf  and  Dumb, 
341 ;  Colored  Orphan,  ib. ;  Insane,  ib. ;  the 
Leake  and  Watt  (Orphan),  ib. 

Atmosphere,  moisture  of,  in  the  First  Inspection 
District,  36 ;  in  rear  tenements,  48 ;  the  number 
of  cubic  feet  of,  to  each  individual  among  the 
tenant-house  population,  48, 150, 190, 242;  hu- 
midity of,  as  affecting  health,  165;  impregnated 
with  sewer  gases,  a  well-known  source  of  dis- 
ease, 223;  amount  of  to  each  individual  among 
the  cellar  population,  247;  effects  of  impurity 
of,  258 ;  amount  of,  breathed  per  hour,  258,  xc. 

Ballard,  Dr.  E.,  of  London,  his  report  on  tho 
working  of  the  Metropolitan  system,  cxv, 

Baeton,  Dr.,  quotations  from,  203. 

Basements,  untenantable  from  dampness,  3,  5, 14, 
55;  population  of,  152;  unhealthy  nature  of, 
190;  typhoid  fever  in,  55;  rheumatism  con- 
tracted in,  3,  40,  71,  81,  199;  ophthalmia  in,  71. 

Beekman's  Swamp,  location  and  area  of,  43. 


Beewick,  Eng.,  results  of  sanitary  works  in,  cxvii. 
Bestavee's  Kellitje,  128. 

Boarding  Houses,  25 ;  sailors',  how  sometimes 
supplied  with  food,  60. 

Beonchitis,  among  the  occupants  of  shanties  in 
the  Twenty-fifth  Inspection  District,  306. 

Beothei.8,  in  the  First  Inspection  District,  10;  in 
the  Third,  26,37;  in  the  Fourth,  59;  in  the 
Fifth,  67 ;  in  the  Sixth,  81 ;  in  the  Seventh,  86 ; 
in  the  Twelfth,  138;  in  the  Thirteenth,  154 ; 
by  whom  frequented,  10 ;  difficulty  of  distin- 
tinguishing,  26. 

Beown,  Dr.  J.  L.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  116;  on  the 
primitive  and  present  topography  of  the  Elev- 
enth District,  117;  objections  to  the  cobble 
pavement  by,  118 ;  on  an  outbreak  of  typhoid 
fever  and  dysentery  by,  119 ;  on  tenant-houses, 
121 ;  description  of  an  improved  tenant-house 
by,  122;  cellar  population  by,  123;  on  garbage 
boxes,  124;  prevailing  diseases,  ib.;  remedial 
measures  suggested  b}r,  124. 

Beush,  Dr.  H.  M.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  385;  on 
natural  water-courses  of  the  Twenty-sixth  and 
Twenty-seventh  District,  326;  old  water  cour- 
ses obstructed,  327 ;  the  evils  of  sewer  gases, 
828;  on  tenant-houses,  329;  evils  and  their 
remedies,  321 ;  foul  gutters  and  poisonous 
gases,  333;  garbage-box  and  waste-pipe  pro- 
posed by.  333. 

Buildings,  of  the  First  Inspection  District,  6;  of 
the  Second,  15;  of  the  Third,  25,  38;  of  the 
Fourth,  45 ;  of  the  Fifth,  67,  70 ;  of  the  Seventh, 
86;  of  the  Eighth,  93;  of  the  Ninth,  100;  of 
the  Tenth,  112;  of  the  Eleventh,  120;  of  the 
Twelfth,  132;  of  the  Thirteenth,  148;  of  the 
Fourteenth,  166;  of  the  Fifteenth,  173 ;  of  the 
Sixteenth,  186;  of  the  Seventeenth,  197;  of 
the  Eighteenth,  210;  of  the  Twentieth,  241 ; 
of  the  Twenty-first,  257;  of  the  Twenty-sec- 
ond, 276;  of  the  Twenty-third,  286;  of  the 
Twenty-fourth,  291 ;  of  the  Twenty-fifth,  300; 
of  the  Twenty-sixth  and  Twentv-seventh,  328 ; 
of  the  Twenty-eighth,  340;  of  the  Twenty- 
ninth,  346 ;  effects  of  high,  on  the  sanitary  con- 
dition of  narrow  streets,  16;  sanitary  condition 
of  old,  often  superior  to  those  of  more  recent 
date,  112;  defective  construction  of,  2S7. 

Bueball,  Dr.  F.  A.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  127;  on 
the  sources  of  insalubrity  in  the  streets  of  the 
Twelfth  District,  129;  sewerage  and  health 
statistics  by,  131 ;  classification  of  buildings 
by,  182;  tenant-house  statistics  by,  184;  ob- 
jectionable features  of  the  Twelfth  District, 
187;  on  the  construction  of  churches  and 
public  schools,  139 ;  on  diseases  prevailing  in 
tho  Twelfth  District,  ib. ;  remedial  measures 
suggested  by,  140. 

Castle  Garden,  11 ;  effects  of,  on  the  sanitary 
condition  of  the  city,  12. 


352 


INDEX. 


Cat-Alley,  description  of,  179. 

Causes  of  Disease,  xlvii ;  considered  in  connec- 
tion with  death-rates,  xlviii ;  necessity  for 
guarding  against  in  New  York,  ib. ;  those 
which  are  external  and  those  that  are  personal 
considered,  xlix ;  localizing  nature  of,  lxii. 

Cellars,  dampness  of,  during  high  tide,  8,  22,  40, 
146 ;  from  deficiency  of  drainage,  144,  224 ;  ex- 
cluding light  and  air  from,  40, 103 ;  population 
of,  in  the  Sixth  District,  80 ;  in  the  Thirteenth, 
152;  in  the  Twentieth,  246;  in  the  Twenty- 
sixth  and  Twenty-seventh,  329;  flooded  by 
heavy  rains,  123;  diseases  prevailing  in,  135; 
filthy  condition  of,  191 ;  rheumatism  in,  199  ; 
should  be  prohibited  as  dwellings,  205;  dark- 
ness of,  a  cause  of  impaired  vitality,  212;  dis- 
eases conveyed  from,  224 ;  amount  of  popula- 
tion of,  diminishing,  24" ;  offensive  odor  arising 
from,  807;  blood  poisoning  from,  ib. 

Cemeteries,  in  the  First  Inspection  District,  12 ; 
in  the  Fourth,  59;  in  the  Sixth,  82;  in  the 
Eighth,  96;  in  the  Thirteenth,  159. 163 ;  in  the 
Fourteenth,  16S;  in  the  Twenty-eighth,  342. 

Chadwick,  Edwin,  Esq.,  remarks  on  particular 
reforms,  cxvi. 

Charitable  Institutions,  in  the  Sixth  Inspection 
District,  87;  proximity  of,  to  fever-nests,  82. 

Chemistry,  hygienic  applications  of,  xcviii — ciii ; 
report  on,  by  Profs.  Draper  and  Doremus,  xcix. 

Cholera,  Asiatic,  first  appearance  of,  in  1849,  84 ; 
in  the  vicinity  of  pig-styes,  309 ;  its  history  in 
New  York,  lxiii ;  in  Philadelphia  and  Boston, 
lxiv ;  seeks  the  insalubrious  localities,  820. 

Cholera  Infantum,  in  the  First  Inspection  Dis- 
trict, 12 ;  in  the  Third,  41 ;  in  the  Sixth,  82 ; 
in  the  Eighth,  96 ;  in  the  Tenth,  113 ;  in  the 
Eleventh,  124;  in  the  Twelfth,  188;  in  the 
Thirteenth,  162;  in  the  Fourteenth,  108;  in 
the  Fifteenth,  179 ;  in  the  Sixteenth,  198 :  in 
the  Seventeenth,  199 ;  in  the  Twentieth,  248 ; 
in  the  Twenty-fourth,  294;  in  the  Twenty- 
fifth,  312 ;  in  the  Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty- 
seventh,  827 ;  in  the  Twenty-eighth,  842 ;  in 
connection  with  6tables  and  offensive  water- 
closets,  41 ;  prevalent  in  rear  tenements,  179 ; 
relation  of,  to  filthy  streets  and  gutters,  168, 
827;  to  dram-shops,  186;  totality  of,  in  rear 
tenant-houses,  249 ;  in  the  vicinity  of  slaugh- 
ter-houses, 294;  caused  by  swill  milk.  812;  in 
the  vicinity  of  stagnant  water,  816 ;  fatality  of, 
in  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  820 ;  relation  of, 
to  dentition,  822 ;  in  Manhattanvillc,  842. 

Cholera  Morbus,  in  the  First  Inspection  District, 
12 ;  in  the  Third,  29 ;  in  the  Eleventh,  124 ; 
caused  by  unwholesome  articles  of  food,  812 ; 
its  preventable  nature  well  known,  820. 

Cnr/BcnES,  in  the  First  Inspection  District,  11  ;  in 
the  Second.  17;  in  the  Third,  2S;  in  the  Fifth, 
72;  in  the  Sixth,  81;  in  the  Eighth,  96;  in  the 
Ninth,  101 ;  in  the  Tenth,  112;  in  the  Eleventh, 
125;  in  the  Twelfth,  188;  in  the  Thirteenth, 
148;  in  the  Sixteenth,  192;  in  the  Eighteenth, 
222;  in  the  Twentieth,  241 ;  in  the  Twenty- 
second,  278 :  in  tho  Twentv-sixth  and  Twenty- 
seventh,  880;  badly  ventilated,  61, 189. 

Citizens'  Association,  information  and  advlso  re- 
quested by,  xxxv ;  report  presented  to,  xxvii. 

Cleanliness,* tho  first  remedial  measure  for  the 
city,  exxv,  exxxviii ;  should  be  enforced  in 
tenant  houses,  exxxi ;  importance  of  both  per- 
sonal and  domiciliary,  118,  166;  neglect  of, 
166;  with  ventilation,  will  extinguish  epidem- 
ics, 218';  Indifference  to,  acquired,  and  at  vari- 
ance with  all  moral  or  social  Improvement, 
246;  want  of,  a  great  source  of  Insalubrity, 
272 ;  tho  great  want  of,  In  tho  Twenty-eighth 
District,  840. 

'Collect,'  outlet  of,  21,84:  description  of  the, 
76;  fllllng-ln  the,  76;  an  incident,  Ib. ;  noxious 
Intlucncc  of  the,  92. 


Commercial  "Warehouses,  sanitary  wants  of,  16 ; 

effects  of  their  want  of  ventilation  and  light,  ib 
Commission,  form  of,  to  Sanitary  Inspectors,  xxviii. 
Contagion,  and  contagious  diseases  considered, 

cxxxv. 

Council  of  Hygiene,  date  of  its  organization,  xxi ; 
names  of  its  members,  cliii. 

Crime  resulting  from  a  want  of  sanitary  regula- 
tion, 65;  from  habitual  intemperance,  187, 167. 
214,250. 

Ckoton  Street,  packing  of,  840. 

Croton  Water,  its  sanitary  importance,  HI ;  occa- 
sional impurities  of,  and  their  influence,  c. 

Ceoup  among  the  occupants  of  shanties  in  the 
Twenty-fifth  Inspection  District,  806. 

Culs-de-Sac,  diseases  and  mortality  in,  lxxvl. 

Death-Rates,  defined,  xl ;  its  average  in  the  Sixth 
Ward,  lxiv. 

Derby,  Dr.  E.  W.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  165;  on  the 
effects  of  a  vitiated  atmosphere,  106;  on  ten- 
ant-houses and  dram  shops,  167;  on  the  moral 
influence  of  slaughter-houses,  168;  how  infec- 
tious diseases  spread,  169;  remedial  measures, 
suggested  bv,  1 70. 
Diarrhoea,  in  the  First  District,  12;  prevalent  at 
all  seasons  in  the  Fourth  District,  6a ;  existence 
of,  among  cellar  population,  71 ;  most  preva- 
lent in  insalubrious  quarters,  12 ;  its  prevalence 
near  the  river,  29;  most  severe  on  low,  damp 
round,  41 ;  with  drunkards,  running  into 
ysentery,  169;  connected  with  filthy  streets 
and  gutters,  188,  827;  in  the  Sixteenth  Dis- 
trict, 198;  in  the  Twentieth,  248;  maybe  con- 
trolled by  proper  sanitarv  regulations,  819. 
Diarrheal  Maladies,  Hi,  liii;  their  causes  pre- 
ventable, cviii ;  from  open  and  neglected  sew- 
ers, cviii;  from  impure  water,  cix;  Dr.  Green- 
how's  report  on,  cix. 
Diphtheria,  proximity  of,  to  stables,  27,  62,  225; 
in  connection  with  dram-shops,  186;  with  in- 
salubrious slaughter-houses,  192 ;  with  flooded 
cellars,  199;  death  of  a  physician  by,  225;  In 
tho  vicinity  of  stagnant  water,  842. 
Disease,  avoidable  causes  of,  xxxix;  preventable, 
the  proportion  of  deaths  from.  Hi ;  causes  of 
in  Tenth.  Eighteenth,  and  Twentieth  Districts 
reported,  lxvl ;  special  reports  on,  in  a  Park 
Street  cul-de-sac,  lxxvl;  report  on,  in  certain 
tenant-houses,  lxxviii ;  in  the  First  Inspection 
District,  12;  in  the  Second,  17;  in  the  Third, 
29,  41 ;  in  the  Fourth,  68 ;  in  the  Fifth,  68,  72; 
in  the  Sixth,  82;  in  the  Seventh,  H);  In  the 
Eighth,  96;  in  the  Ninth,  107;  In  tho  Tenth, 
118:  in  the  Eleventh,  124;  in  the  Twelfth,  189; 
in  the  Thirteenth,  162:  in  the  Fourteenth,  168; 
in  the  Fifteenth,  179;  in  the  Sixteenth,  198;  in 
the  Seventeenth,  199;  in  the  Eighteenth,  215; 
in  the  Nineteenth,  224;  in  the  Twentieth,  248; 
in  the  Twontv-flist,  265;  in  the  Twenty-sec- 
ond, 279 ;  In  the  Twenty-fourth,  294 ;  in  tho 
Twenty-fifth,  818,  819;  In  the  Twenty-Sixth 
and  Twenty-Seventh,  828;  In  tho  Twenty- 
eighth,  842;  In  the  Twenty-ninth,  847;  exist- 
ence of,  concealed  by  interested  persons,  62 ; 
zymotic  rife  In  tho  vicinity  of  largo  stables, 
62;  statistics  of  a  tenant-house  in  Monroo 
Street,  104;  influenco  of  dirtv  streets  In  tho 
spread  of.  111,  118, 129;  caused  by  the  use  of 
alcoholic  liquors,  128;  dispelled  by  the  diluting 
agency  of  tho  atmosphere,  124;  spread  by 
moansofthc  city  rail-cars,  141 ;  hyfomltes,lC8, 
249;  localities  o'f,  198;  met  with  in  reor  tene- 
ments, 245;  effect  of  acclimation  on,  lb. ;  causes 
of.  among  the  poor,  224 ;  preventable  causes  of, 
199;  improper  food,  Intemperance,  201 ;  spread 
by  paper  money,  clothing,  public  conveyances, 
etc.,  202;  patent  medicines,  208 ;  unwillingness 
of  tenants  to  acknowledge  tho  existence  of, 
249;  always  Hablo  to  terminate  unfavorably 
with  the  Intemperate,  811 ;  a  Inrgc  amount  of 


5 


INDEX. 


353 


preventable,  251 ;  statistics  of,  in  the  Twenty- 
third  District,  28S;  effects  of  stagnant  water 
upon,  342;  the  carelessness  of  the  Irish,  and 
the  over-carefulness  of  the  Germans,  342. 
Dispensaries,  special  services  of,  cxxxv;  the 
New  York,  SI;  the  Eastern,  96;  in  the  Thir- 
teenth District,  158. 
Drainage  of  tiie  City,  reports  on,  xcvi ;  quota- 
tions from  Mr.  Menzies's  treatise  on,  xcvii; 
natural  of  the  island  how  obstructed,  xeviii ; 
of  the  Third  Inspection  District,  21, 35;  of  the 
fourth,  44;  of  the  Fifth,  60;  of  the  Eighth,  92; 
of  the  Ninth,  97;  of  the  Tenth,  110;  of  the 
Eleventh,  117;  of  the  Twelfth,  127;  of  the 
Thirteenth,  143;  of  the  Fifteenth,  171;  of  the 
Sixteenth,  187;  of  fhe  Seventeenth,  196;  of 
the  Eighteenth,  207;  of  the  Nineteenth,  223; 
of  the  Twentieth,  22S;  of  the  Twenty -first, 
256;  of  the  Twenty-second,  268;  of  the  Twen- 
ty-fifth, 29S ;  of  the  Twenty-sixth  and  Twen- 
ty-seventh, 326;  of  the  Twenty-eighth,  336, 
837 ;  instances  of  defective,  43, 102, 1SS ;  import- 
ance of  thorough,  92;  influence  of  bad  house- 
drainage  on  the  health  of  the  inhabitants,  102 ; 
local,  absence  of,  or  imperfect,  185;  sickness 
caused  by  defective  house-drainage,  18S;  sur- 
face, ib. ;  tubular  drains  of  tile  preferable  to 
those  of  brick,  232;  faulty  waste-pipes,  243. 
Dram-Shops,  in  the  First  Inspection  District,  10 ; 
in  the  Second,  16;  in  the  Third,  26;  in  the 
Fourth,  59 ;  in  the  Fifth,  67,  71 :  in  the  Sixth, 
81;  in  the  Seventh,  86;  in  the  Eighth,  96;  in 
the  Ninth,  106;  in  the  Tenth,  112;  in  the 
Eleventh,  123;  in  the  Twelfth,  137;  in  the 
Thirteenth,  152;  in  the  Fourteenth,  167;  in 
the  Fifteenth,  173 ;  in  the  Sixteenth,  191 ;  in 
the  Eighteenth,  213:  in  the  Twentieth,  241;  in 
the  Twenty-first,  257;  in  the  Twenty-second, 
277 ;  in  the  Twenty-fourth,  293 ;  in  the  Twenty- 
fifth,  310;  in  the  Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty- 
seventh,  330;  in  the  Twenty-eighth,  341;  in 
the  Twenty-ninth,  346;  influence  of,  on  the 
sanitary  condition  of  squares,  100, 123;  char- 
acter of,  10, 137,  214;  evils  resulting  from,  SI, 
106, 137 ;  prejudicial  to  the  public  health,  137, 
186;  by  whom  frequented,  10,  26;  ratio  of 
the  number  of  families  in  the  Eighteenth  Dis- 
trict, 213;  numerous  in  the  locality  of  tenant- 
houses,  106;  thronged  with  multitudes  of  both 
sexes,  167,  245 ;  evils  of,  among  squatter-tene- 
ments, 293;  dispensaries  of  poisons,  341. 
Draper,  Professor  J.  "W.,  letter  from,  312  note ; 

report  by,  xcix. 
Draper,  Henry,  M.D.,  a  chemical  analysis  of  well- 
water  from  the  Twenty-third  District,  made 
by,  313  note. 
Dutch  Hill,  location  of,  2S2;  employments  of  the 

inhabitants  of,  286. 
Dwelling  improvements  in  English  cities,  lxxxiv, 
lxxxviii;  Alderman  AVaterlow's  described, 
Ixxxvi ;  Eev.  Dr.  Muhlenberg's  remarks  on 
the  necessity  for,  in  New  York,  lxxxviii ;  rec- 
ommendations for,  lxxxix ;  needed  in  private 
houses,  lxxxix,  xc. 
Dwellings,  area  of  the  city  to  be  occupied  by, 
exxxii ;  private,  in  the  First  Inspection  Dis- 
trict, 6;  in  the  Second,  15;  in  the  Third,  25, 
88;  in  the  Fifth,  67,  70;  in  the  Seventh,  86;  in 
Eighth,  93;  in  the  Ninth,  100;  in  the  Tenth, 
112;  in  tho  Eleventh,  121;  in  the  Twelfth, 
133 ;  in  the  Thirteenth,  148 ;  in  the  Fourteenth, 
166;  in  tho  Fifteenth,  173;  in  the  Sixteenth, 
187;  in  the  Seventeenth,  197;  in  the  Eigh- 
teenth, 210;  in  the  Twentieth,  241;  in  the 
Twenty-first,  257;  in  the  Twenty-second,  276; 
in  the  Twenty-fourth,  291 ;  in  tho  Twenty- 
fifth,  306;  in  the  Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty- 
seventh,  828;  in  the  Twenty-eighth,  340 ;  faul- 
ty ventilation  of,  88,  210;  why  bad  odors  oc- 
casionally occur  in,  133.  2*1,  307;  sanitary 
23 


condition  of,  compared  with  that  of  tenant- 
houses,  135 ;  occasional  want  of  sanitnry  *are 
in  regard  to,  210;  defective  sewerage  and 
plumbing  of,  291,  328;  blood-poisooihg  and 
death  from  defective  drainage  of,  307;  several 
connected  with  the  sewer  by  a  single  drain, 
807 ;  having  no  cellars,  329. 

Dysentery  in  the  First  Inspection  District,12;  on 
low,  damp  ground,  41 ;  in  damp  and  filthy 
basements,  55, 71 ;  prevalence  of.  in  the  Fourth 
Inspection  District,  63;  in  the  Fifth,  72;  in  the 
Seventh  District,  S9;  in  the  Tenth,  113;  con- 
nected with  imperfect  sewerage,  119  ;  with 
crowded  and  insalubrious  quarters,  124;  with 
filthy  streets  and  gutters,  183;  in  the  Six- 
teenth District,  193  ;  on  reclaimed  ground, 
199 ;  in  connection  with  filthy  privies  and 
damp  cellars,  287;  among  the  occupants  of 
shanties  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  306;  in 
the  vicinity  of  stagnant  water,  316. 

Eliot  Dr.  E.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  284;  on  the  up- 
town nuisances,  2S3;  on  street-cleaning,  etc., 
284;  on  filthy  places  and  gross  abuses,  285; 
"Dutch  Hill,"  286;  on  poisonous  gases  and 
emanations  in  dwellings,  2S7 ;  on  the  tenant- 
houses  in  the  Twenty-third  District,  2SS;  the 
"  Great  Eastern  "  tenant-house  described,  ib. ; 
remedial  measures  suggested  by,  290. 

Epidemics,  attack  low,  reclaimed  ground  first,  23 
extinguished  by  cleanliness  and  ventilation, 
218 ;  die  out  after  a  certain  length  of  time,  213 ; 
may  be  arrested,  216;  attack  the  immoral  and 
degraded  classes,  218;  influenced  by  want  of 
sanitary  regulations,  249,  250. 

Erysipelas  in  the  Third  Inspection  District,  29 ; 
in  the  vicinity  of  stables,  62. 

Exanthematous  Fevers,  partly  preventable,  liv. 

Executive  Committee,  its  report  on  the  plan  and 
progress  of  the  Sanitary  Survey,  xxi ;  names 
of,  xxxv. 

Factories  in  the  Third  Inspection  Dictrict,  27,38; 
in  the  Fifth,  71 ;  in  the  Sixth,  81 ;  in  the 
Twelfth,  138;  in  the  Fourteenth,  167;  in  the 
Eighteenth,  215 ;  in  the  Twenty-fourth,  294. 

Families  childless  from  high  death-rate  in  tenant- 
houses,  lxxviii. 

Farrington,  Dr.  J.  O.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  845; 
remedial  measures  suggested  by,  347;  statisti- 
cal recapitulation  by,  848. 

Fat-boiling,  establishments  for,  in  close  proxim- 
ity to  large  business  thoroughfares,  S6  ;  ema- 
nations arising  from,  ib. ;  in  the  Twenty-first 
District,  262  ;  effects  of  inhaling  the  odor 
from,  262. 

Fever  in  the  years  ISOS-U,  cv ;  in  the  Eleventh 
and  Seventeenth  Wards,  cvi ;  its  causes  and 
control  considered,  exxxvi ;  prevailing  most 
extensively  in  moist  localities,  23;  in  damp 
cellars  and  basements,  81;  in  the  Sixth  In- 
spection District,  82. 

 Bilious  and  Miasmatic,  causes  of,  240. 

  Continued,  prevalent  in  the  Twenty- 
second  District,  279. 

 Intermittent,  prevailing  on  reclaimed,  low, 

and  poorly-drained  ground,  41 ;  in  tho  vicinity 
of  stagnant  water,  816,  837,  346,  847;  statistics 
of,  from  the  Manhattan  Dispensary,  348. 

  Malarial,  in  tho  vicinity  of  stagnant 

water,  230,  842. 

  Remitting,  almost  universal  among  chil- 
dren in  tenant-houses  of  tho  Third  Inspection 
District,  29  ;  on  reclaimed  ground,  41 ;  in  the 
vicinity  of  stagnant  water,  837. 

  Typnoin,  causes  of,  preventable,  li. ;  in 

some  portions  of  tho  Third  District,  29 ;  ma- 
lignant type  of,  41 ;  in  damp  cellars,  71 ;  in  tho 
Fifth  Inspection  District, 72;  in  tho  Seventh, 
89;  in  the  Tenth,  113;  in  tenant-houses  of  tho 
Twelfth  District,  139;  in  tho  Thirteenth,  162; 
in  the  Fourteenth,  169;  in  the  Fifteenth,  179.: 


354 


INDEX. 


In  the  Eighteenth,  215;  caused  by  the  inhala- 
tion ot  newer  gases,  288;  by  human  exhala- 
tions and  cloacal  effluvia,  240;  in  the  Twen- 
tieth District,  248 ;  produced  by  privy  exhala- 
tions, 809 ;  in  the  vicinity  of  stagnant  water, 
816;  caused  by  the  impure  exhalations  from 
filthv  streets  and  gutters,  327 ;  in  One  Hundred 
and  "Tenth  Street,  844. 

Fever,  Typhus,  special  reports  on,  and  forms  for, 
xxxv ;  where  found,  xlviii;  preventable  by 
fresh  air  and  cleanliness,  li ;  in  tenant-houses, 
1 ;  how  prevented,  li ;  illustrations  of  its  in- 
fectious nature,  lvi,  lvii ;  localizing  causes, 
lviii;  neglect  of,  by  municipal  authorities,  lix ; 
footprints  of,  6, 81 ;  prevalence  of,  in  the  First 
Inspection  District,  9, 18;  in  the  Second,  17; 
in  the  Third,  29,  41 ;  in  tho  Fourth,  68 ;  in  the 
Sixth,  82;  in  the  Seventh,  89;  in  the  Ninth, 
102;  in  the  Eleventh,  124;  in  the  Thirteenth, 
162;  in  the  Fourteenth,  168;  in  the  Fifteenth, 
179;  in  the  Seventeenth,  199;  in  the  Eigh- 
teenth, 215;  in  the  Twenty-first,  265 ;  traceable 
to  newly-arrived  immigrants,  17,  42,  69,  82, 
162,  169 ;  to  discharged  soldiers,  169 ;  arrested 
by  free  ventilation,  17, 163;  its  relation  to  the 
Daturc  of  the  ground  on  which  it  occurs,  23, 
41 ;  as  connected  with  the  humidity  of  the  at- 
mosphere, 86 ;  with  neglected  privies  and 
cesspools,  36 ;  with  junk-shops  and  clothing- 
houses,  61 ;  with  tenant-houses,  63,  78,  211, 
806;  diminishes  during  summer  months,  68; 
may  be  controlled,  88,  216,  819 ;  originating  in 
a  crowded  tenement,  102;  inspires  dread  which 
interferes  with  the  welfare  of  the  patient,  168; 
endangers  tho  life  of  the  physician,  169;  in 
proximity  to  slaughter-houses,  192 ;  in  connec- 
tion with  stables,  192 ;  in  rear  tenements,  275, 
280 ;  spread  of,  in  the  Twenty-second  Inspec- 
tion District,  280,  281 ;  cases  of  imported,  2S1, 
806;  spread  of.  due  to  overcrowding,  ib. 

Feveb-Nests,  definition  of,  xxi ;  inspection  of, 
xxxiv ;  the  probable  number  in  the  city,  cvii ; 
In  the  First  Inspection  District,  9;  in  the 
Third,  41 ;  in  the  Sixth,  78,  84 ;  in  the  Eigh- 
teenth, 216;  in  connection  with  stables,  81; 
description  of  a,  in  Monroe  Street,  102 ;  con- 
tinued by  the  condition  of  certain  tenant- 
houses,  216;  locality  of,  in  the  Eighteenth 
District,  216;  physicians  and  others  contract- 
ing fever  in,  ib. ;  description  of  a  noted,  in  the 
Eighteenth  District,  217;  number  of  caBcs  oc- 
curring in  a,  218 ;  located  on  made  ground,  ib. ; 
now  to  exterminate  disease  from,  219 ;  advan- 
tages gained  by  sanitary  measures  applied  to, 
267 ;  description  of,  in  the  Twenty-second 
District,  279,  280. 

Field,  Dr.  H.  M.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  206 ;  on 
primitive  and  present  topography,  207;  on 
streets  and  gutters,  208;  on  avenues  of  wealth, 
and  streets  of  poverty,  209 ;  on  tho  faulty  con- 
struction of  tenant-houses,  211 ;  on  cellars  and 
basements,  212;  on  epidemics  of  fever,  218; 
dram-shops  and  liquor  stores,  214 ;  trades  and 
unhealthful  occupations  not  causes  of  fever, 
215;  the  spreading  of  infection  may  be  arrest- 
ed, 216;  description  of  a  noted  fevcr-nest,  by, 
217;  epidemics  attack  the  Immoral  and  de- 
graded first,  218;  on  the  social  aspects  of  in- 
salubrious quarters,  219 ;  remedial  measures 
suggested  by,  221. 

Fire  Kbcapes,  want  of,  80,  815. 

Food,  articles  used  for  injury  of.  xcv ;  chemical 
inquiry  concerning,  ell ;  quality  of,  used  by 
the  poor,  59,  60, 166;  how  sometimes  obtained 
for  sailors1  boarding-houses,  60 ;  stale  vegeta- 
bles and  fish,  and  unripo  fruit,  produce  cholera 
morbus,  diarrhoea,  and  dyBcntery,  201 ;  un- 
wholesome articles  of,  811 ;  their  .  r,  •:-  upon 
children,  812. 

Foet  Gansevoobt,  where  situated  116. 


Fort  Washington,  886. 

Foulib,  Dr.,  his  sanitary  work  in  Edinburgh,  exxx. 

Fubman,  Dr.  6.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  196;  on  re- 
claimed ground,  196 ;  on  sewerage,  ib. ;  domi- 
ciles, and  people,  197;  location  and  neglect  of 
privies,  19S ;  prevailing  maladies  and  pre- 
ventable diseases,  199;  on  the  evil  effects  of 
watering  the  streets,  200 ;  unventilated  cel- 
lars and  basements,  ib. ;  brutal  health-war- 
dens and  wretched  mothers,  201 ;  on  faulty  hy- 
giene in  public  schools,  202;  how  are  com- 
municable diseases  spread,  ib. ;  on  the  indis- 
criminate use  of  patent  nostrums,  208 ;  reme- 
dial measures  suggested  by,  ib. ;  description 
of  a  model  tenant-house,  204 ;  evils  to  be 
remedied,  205. 

Gajigee,  Prof.  J.  8.,  his  reports  on  diseased  ani- 
mals and  meats,  xcv. 

Garbage,  nuisance  of,  exxviii;  disposal  of  a  cause 
of  insalubrity,  8,  87.  89,  6S,  76,  95, 151, 188,  280, 
269,  804,  808,  828,  881,  889,  840 ;  effects  of  leav- 
ing in  the  street,  8,  95;  in  front  of  houses 
where  cholera  infantum  was  found,  188 ;  non- 
removal,  1S5;  improved  receiving  vessel  for, 
282. 

Garbage-Box,  a  perpetual  source  of  nuisance, 
76, 124, 157,  280 ;  not  adapted  to  the  wants  of 
a  cleanly  people,  95 ;  necessity  for  abolishing, 
114  ;  should  be  provided  with  covers  and 
emptied  daily,  187;  a  source  of  great  evil 
where  tenant-houses  are  most  abundant,  185, 
230 ;  made  of  improper  material,  189 ;  in  front 
of  public  schools,  151 ;  decaying  organic  mat- 
ter found  in,  200;  never  completely  emptied, 
280,  274 ;  seen  in  front  of  tenant-houses,  290 ; 
faulty  construction  of,  286 ;  practically  of  little 
consequence,  808. 

Gas,  nuisance  from  manufactories  of,  xcv,  192 ; 
operatives  subject  to  an  affection  of  tho  eyes, 
192. 

Geology,  of  the  Third  Inspection  District,  19 ;  of 
the  Sixth,  75;  of  the  Tenth,  111 ;  of  the  Thir- 
teenth, 142;  of  the  Seventeenth,  196;  of  the 
Twentieth,  227 :  of  the  Twenty-third,  288;  of 
the  Twenty -fifth,  298 ;  of  the  Twenty-eighth, 
886. 

Gotham  Cottbt,  description  of,  49;  statistics  of, 
52 ;  health  of  the  occupants  of,  54. 

Gbeenbow,  Dr.  S.  Headlam,  report  on  Diarrhoea 
Districts  of  England,  cix. ;  on  registration  of 
disease,  exxiii. 

Greenwich  Village,  how  situated,  116. 

Gbibcom,  Dr.  J.  H.,  his  treatise  referred  to,  exxxiii. 

Gbocebies,  how  affect  the  public  health,  40,  55,  71, 
187,  277, 285.  • 

Gutters,  irregular  grading  of,  129, 148 ;  unwhole- 
some miasmata  emanating  from,  129 ;  obstruc- 
tions of,  148, 172 ;  Condition  of,  in  front  of  ten- 
ant-houses, 805;  wretched  sanitary  condition  of, 
188 ;  diseases  consequent  thereon,  ib. ;  recep- 
tacles of  garbage,  filth,  etc.,  269 ;  in  the  Twen- 
ty-eighth District.  88a 

Hadden,  Dr.  A.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  825 ;  on  tho 
natural  water-courses  of  the  Twenty-sixth  and 
Twenty-seventh  Districts,  826 ;  old  water- 
courses obstructed,  827;  the  evils  of  sewer 
gases,  828;  on  tenant  houses,  829  ;  evils  and 
their  remedies,  881 :  foul  gutters  and  poison- 
ous gases,  888 ;  garbage-box  and  waste-pipo 
proposed  by,  888;  statistical  recapitulation 
by,  884. 

IIale,  Chief  Justice,' on  the  canses  of  crime,  106. 

Hammond,  Dr.  William  H.,  his  hygienic  studies 
referred  to,  cxxxlll. 

IIalliday,  Mr.  8.  H„  his  report  on  homes  of  tho 
poor  in  tho  Sixth  Ward,  lxxvll. 

Harriot,  Dr.  H.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  IS;  old 
swamps  and  present  drainage,  21 ;  street  ele- 
vations, 22 ;  influence  of  topography  on  health, 
28  ;  tenant-houses,  26;  on  the  influence  of  sta 


INDEX. 


355 


bles  on  the  public  health,  27 ;  prevailing  dis- 
eases of  the  Third  District,  29 ;  diseases  preva- 
lent in  proportion  to  crowding,  etc.,  ib. ;  an 
investigation  needed, 80  ;  footprints  of  typhus 
and  small-pox,  31  ;  statistical  recapitulation 
by,  82. 

Harris,  Dr.  Elisha,  treatise  on  ventilation  by, 
95;  outlines  of  the  progress  of  sanitary  im- 
provement by,  25S. 

Health,  its  value,  xxxviii ;  laws,  committee  on, 
xxxiii ;  standard  of,  how  estimated,  xli ;  ne- 
cessity for  its  public  protection,  civ ;  a  Board 
of,  needed,  cxxvii ;  the  present  organization 
inadequate,  140 ;  measures  for  the  promotion 
of,  should  be  under  the  supervision  of  medical 
men,  141,  249. 

Health  Wardens,  should  have  authority  over 
insalubrious  buildings,  114;  example  of  the 
neglect  of  a,  201 ;  office  of,  a  sinecure,  248 ; 
occupation  of,  in  the  Twenty-third  District, 
290. 

HouGn,  Dr.  Franklin  B.,  his  statistics  and  pre- 
dictions, cxxi. 

House-to-house  inspections,  some  results  of  stat- 
ed, xlii. 

House-drainage,  its  importance,  xc. 

Hunter.  Dr.  William  C,  Sanitary  Inspector,  1S2; 
amount  of  preventable  disease  in  proportion 
to  filthy  streets,  183;  on  the  evils  of  ob- 
structed sewerage,  184;  on  the  massing  of 
buildings,  ib. ;  garbage  and  negligence,  185; 
on  uncleanly  and  intemperate  habits,  186; 
classification  of  buildings  by,  ib.  ;  tenant- 
houses  and  statistics  by,  187,  on  the  evils 
of  defective  house-drainage,  188  ;  water  sup- 
ply and  domestic  wants  by,  189;  on  cellars 
and  basements,  190 ;  on  dram-shops  and  soap- 
factories,  191 ;  on  typhus  and  ophthalmia  in 
proximity  to  stables,  192 ;  on  filthy  places 
and  prevailing  diseases,  193 ;  on  locality  of 
disease,  193;  remedial  measures  suggested 
by,  194. 

nrGROMETRioAL  observations,  during  the  sani- 
tary survey,  xcviii ;  made  in  the  Third  In- 
spection District,  36. 

Improvements,  made  during  the  season  in  the 
First  Inspection  District,  12;  in  the  Third, 
43 ;  in  the  Seventh,  89  ;  in  the  Fourteenth, 
170;  in  the  Twentieth,  248 ;  in  the  Twenty- 
first,  267 ;  none  made  by  the  health  authori- 
ties, 170,  247 ;  in  the  Twenty-ninth  District, 
847. 

Infants,  sacrifice  of,  in  tenant-houses,  10,  64; 
mortality  of,  in  the  Sixth  Inspection  District, 
82 ;  vitiated  diet  of,  96 ;  diseases  of,  in  the 
Fourteenth  District,  168 ;  congenital  contami- 
nations of,  ib. ;  diseases  of,  in  the  vicinity  of  a 
tripe  establishment,  810. 

Infantile  Diseases  and  Mortality,  in  the 
Fourth  Inspection  District,  64 ;  in  tho  Four- 
teenth, 168;  in  tho  Fifteenth,  180;  fifty  per 
cent  of,  from  preventable  causes,  41 ;  fear- 
fully high  in  the  Sixth  District,  82;  among 
the  poor  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  199, 201 ; 
use  of  patent  medicines ;  203 ;  the  overcrowd- 
ing of  tenant-houses  a  fruitful  sonrco  of,  241, 
271;  in  the  Twenty-fifth  District,  303 ;  due  to 
stagnant  water,  304,  317  ;  to  the  condition  of 
the  domiciles,  306,  307 ;  to  the  condition  of 
privies,  309  ;  to  unwholesome  articles  of  diet, 
812  ;  to  habits  of  the  parents,  315 ;  cholera  In- 
fantum, 821. 

Infection,  of  fever,  its  spread  from  tenant-houses, 
exxxiv. 

Inhabitants,  character  and  employment  of,  in  the 
First  Inspection  District,  5;  of  the  Second, 
15;  of  tho  Third,  24,  37;  of  tho  Fifth,  67,  70; 
of  the  Sixth,  77;  of  the  Seventh,  85;  of  the 
Eighth,  91 ;  of  the  Ninth,  100 ;  of  the  Tenth, 
111 ;  of  the  Eleventh,  120 ;  of  the  Twelfth, 


132;  of  the  Thirteenth,  147;  of  the  Four- 
teenth, 166 ;  of  the  Fifteenth,  181 ;  of  the  Six- 
teenth, 186;  of  the  Seventeenth,  197;  of  the 
Eighteenth,  209;  of  the  Twentieth,  240;  of 
the  Twenty-second,  275;  of  the  Twenty-third, 
286 ;  of  the  Twenty-fourth,  293 ;  of  the  Twen- 
ty-fifth, 303 ;  of  the  Twenty-sixth  and  Twen- 
ty-seventh, 328 ;  of  the  Twenty-eighth,  340 ; 
of  the  Twenty-ninth,  846  j  the  proportion  of 
foreign  to  American  birth  of,  5;  crowding 
of,  6 ;  of  tenant-houses  need  to  be  educated 
on  sanitary  subjects,  68, 113, 115 ;  physical  and 
social  degradation  of,  in  crowded  tenements, 
179;  uncleanly  and  intemperate  habits  of,  186. 

Inspection,  sanitary,  plan  and  commencement  of, 
xxii. ;  Inspection  Districts,  boundaries  of,  etc., 
xxii. ;  should  be  unremitting,  cxxvii. 

Instructions,  to  Sanitary  Inspectors,  xxiv;  in  the 
laws  of  health  needed,  exxxvii. 

Intemperance,  crime  in  consequence  of,  137,  167, 
214,  250;  disease  in  proportion  to  the  extent 
of,  196,  201 ;  accidents  in  consequence  of,  310; 
effects  of,  not  confined  to  victims  of  the  habit, 
811. 

Janes,  Dr.  E.  H.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  226 ;  on  the 
medical  topography  of  the  Twentieth  District, 
227 ;  on  the  advantages  of  good  natural  drain- 
age, 228;  evidence  of  natural  salubrity  pre- 
sented, 229 ;  the  garbage-box,  230 ;  oil  the  re- 
lations of  pavements  and  sewerage  to  health, 
231 ;  evils  of  sewer  gases  and  obstructed  sew- 
ers, 233;  a  plan  of  sewerage  described  by, 
234;  why  certain  squares  are  insalubrious, 
237;  on  the  massing  of  tenements,  238 ;  evils 
resulting  therefrom,  240 ;  difference  between 
private  dwellings  and  tenant  houses  by,  241 ; 
classification  of  buildings  by,  242;  on  the 
number  of  cubic  feet  of  air-space  to  an  indi- 
vidual in  tenant-houses,  242 ;  on  water  sup- 
ply and  house-drainage,  243;  on  rear  tene- 
ments, 244 ;  habits  and  diseases  in  rear  tene- 
ments, 245 ;  on  cellar  population,  247 ;  negli- 
gence of  health-wardens,  248 ;  epidemics  and 
endemics  in  tenant-houses,  249 ;  on  epidemic 
and  contagious  influences  upon  insalubrious 
quarters,  250  ;  on  neglect  of  vaccination,  251 ; 
remedial  measures  suggested  by,  252 ;  poverty 
and  crime  as  associated  with  disregard  of 
hygienic  laws,  254. 

Jaevis,  Dr.,  reports  spread  of  small-pox  to  the 
country,  ]x. 

Junk-shops,  their  connection  with  the  spread  of 
contagions,  61. 

Keenet,  Dr.  B.  M.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  83 ;  on  the 
effect  of  tides  upon  the  sewers,  35 ;  hygromet- 
rical  observations  by,  86;  on  the  causes  of 
sickness  and  mortality,  87;  moral  condition 
of  the  inhabitants,  38;  on  tenant-houses,  38,39; 
diseases  in  cellars  and  basements,  40;  prevail- 
ing diseases,  41:  on  sanitary  improvement,  42. 

Kennedy,  Dr.  J.  T.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  91 ;  on  the 
influence  of  the  condition  of  the  streets  upon 
tho  public  health,  92;  influence  of  topogra- 
phical conditions  upon  the  public  health,  ib. ; 
on  the  order  and  industry  in  tho  Tenth  Ward, 
93;  on  tenant-houses,  94;  tenant-house  pack- 
ing, 95 ;  summary  of  disease  and  mortality,  96. 

Laboring  Classes,  sanitary  wants  and  neglect  of, 
lxxiv ;  Legislative  Committee's  report  on  their 
habitations,  lxxv. 

Landlords,  grasping  disposition  of,  219;  have  no 
right  to  refuse  necessary  repairs,  or  to  with- 
hold sanitary  care,  220. 

Laws,  compulsory,  not  waited  for,  cxli ;  will  re- 
sult from  increased  Intelligence,  cxI. 

Lente,  Dr.  Frederick  D.,  reports  of  contagion  of 
small-pox  from  New  York,  lx. 

Liebig,  Professor,  practical  suggestions  by,  exxviii. 

Light,  deficiency  of,  In  commercial  warehouses, 
16;  public  school-houses  built  without  proper 


356 


INDEX. 


regard  to,  28;  excluded  from  cellars  and  base- 
ments, 40, 108, 152 ;  absence  of,  in  the  halls  of 
tenant-houses,  4T,  68,  149;  in  rear  dwellings, 
49;  in  the  apartments  of  tenant-houses,  102; 
in  the  dormitories,  21,150;  importance  of,  203 ; 
a  life-sustaining  clement,  244. 

Ltspenabd  Meadows,  original  topography  of,  21, 
83;  how  filled  in,  21,  34;  map  of,  20. 

Little,  Dr.  J.  L.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  255 ;  on  the  na- 
tural water-courses  and  surface  of  the  Twen- 
ty-first District,  256 ;  on  the  sewerage  and  ten- 
ant-houses np-town  257;  effects  of  impurity 
of  the  air,  258;  on  prevailing  modes  of  con- 
structing tenant-houses,  259  ;~a  table  showing 
the  number  of  cubic  feet  of  air-space  to  an  in- 
dividual, 259;  nuisances  that  produce  disease, 
261 ;  on  mortality  as  influenced  by  occupation, 
262;  on  fat-boi!ing  and  gut-cleaning  establish- 
ments, 262;  on  diseased  cows  and  their  milk, 
263 ;  the  -offal  dock,  ib. ;  slaughter-pens  and 
fever,  265;  on  the  prevailing  diseases  of  the 
Twenty-first  District,  265;  on  fever-nests,  267. 

Liverpool,  progress  and  results  of  sanitary  im- 
provement in,  cxvii. 

Localizing  Causes  of  Disease,  numerous  and  ex- 
cessive in  New  York,  lxvii. 

Lodging  Houses,  specimen  of,  in  the  First  In- 
spection District,  6;  in  the  Sixth,  77;  in  the 
Thirteenth,  163. 

Loines,  Dr.  J.  P.,  his  services  as  a  public  vaccina- 
tor, exxxv. 

London,  its  metropolitan  sanitary  system,  cxiv, 
exv ;  death-rate  in,  how  reduced,  cxvl. 

Lord,  Captain  B.  G.,  services  of,  exxvii ;  census 
by,  87 ;  on  cellar  population,  247 ;  estimate  of 
cubic  foot  of  air-space  to  an  individual  by,  260. 

Lying-in  Asylum,  surrounded  by  typhus,  89. 

 Tue  Dublin,  good  effects  of  ventilation  in, 

213. 

Malaria,  its  causes,  how  controlled,  I;  in  the 

Twelfth  Ward,  348,  347. 
Macclesfield,  Eng.,  results  of  sanitary  works  in, 

cxvii!. 

Manchester,  Eng.,  results  of  sanitary  works  in, 
cxvii. 

Mansfield,  Dr.  .T.  R.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  223 ;  on 
sickness  and  its  chief  causes  among  the  poor, 
224. 

Manure  Heaps,  as  sources  of  disease,  201 ;  in  the 
Twenty-first  Inspection  District,  264 ;  in  the 
Twenty-third,  285;  spreading  of,  a  cause  of 
fever,  295. 

Marasmus,  in  fho  First  Inspection  District,  12;  in 
rear  tenant-houses,  49;  in  "Gotham  Court," 
54;  in  the  abodes  of  the  poor,  64. 

Markets,  Washington,  condition  of,  10;  Franklin, 
16 ;  Fulton,  ib. ;  in  the  Third  Inspection  Dis- 
trict, 88;  in  the  Fourth,  59;  in  tho  Twelfth, 
188 ;  in  tho  Eighteenth,  214. 

Marshes,  in  the  Twenty-eighth  District,  887. 

Measles,  in  tho  First  Inspection  District,  12;  in 
the  Second,  17;  in  the  Firth,  72;  in  the  Sixth, 
82;  in  the  Fifteenth,  179;  in  tho  Sixteenth. 
198 ;  exposure  to,  in  crowded  cars,  202 ;  in  tho 
Twentieth  District,  248;  frequent  In  conse- 
quence of  exposure  in  the  public  schools,  819. 

Medical  Charities,  tho  physicians  to,  xxil. 

Metropolitan  Police,  form  of  report  to,  concern- 
ing Insalubrious  quarters,  etc.,  xxx ;  constant 
sickness- rate  of  its  force,  xliil. 

Middle  Classes  of  Society,  how  disappearing, 
Ixxlll.  Ixxxl. 

Milk,  bad  quality  of,  60;  of  tho  nursing  mother, 
201;  from  swill-fed  cows,  250,  263,  296,812; 
from  cows  on  Dutch  Hill,  286. 

Mn.i.RPAi  (iii,  Dr.  J.  L.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  16; 
faulty  condition  of  streets,  15;  on  tho  sanitary 
wants  of  commercial  warehouses,  16;  reme- 
dial measures  suggested  by,  17 ;  statistical  re- 
capitulation by,  13. 


Mtnetta  Creek,  description  of,  127;  the  canse  of 
wet  and  damp  cellars  in  its  old  course,  128. 

Monell,  Dr.  J.  A.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  8 ;  on  the 
absence  of  sewerage,  5;  example  of  crowding, 
6 ;  on  tenant-houses,  7 ;  an  example  of  Insalu- 
brity, ib.;  fever-nests,  9;  remedial  measures 
suggested  by,  12. 

Mortality,  causes  and  rate  of,  xliv,  xlvi ;  rates 
of,  in  Fifth  and  Fifteenth  Wards,  xlv;  In 
Fourth  and  Sixth  Wards,  xlvi;  of  tho  entire 
city,  xlvii ;  increase  of,  in  the  Sixth  Inspection 
District,  82 ;  infantile,  ib. ;  in  tho  Eighth  Dis- 
trict, 96;  in  the  Ninth,  107;  in  the  Twelfth, 
140;  in  dispensary  practice,  170 ;  rate  of  among 
different  classes,  262. 

Mount  Pitt,  110. 

Mubray  Hill,  location  of,  2S2 ;  intermittent  fever 
among  the  residents  of,  284 ;  crowded  tenant- 
houses  at  the  foot  of,  2S8. 

Mussey,  Dr.,  on  ventilation,  212. 

Narcotic  Poisons,  often  substituted  for  alcohol,  60. 

Newman,  Dr.  K.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  142 ;  streets 
and  drainage  of  the  Thirteenth  District,  148 ; 
can  the  sewers  be  cleansed  ?  145 ;  localities 
having  no  public  sewers,  146 ;  classification  of 
buildings  by,  14S;  on  tenant-houses  and  thcir 
occupants,  149 ;  description  of  nuisances,  151 ; 
massing  of  tenant-houses,  152 ;  on  cellar  and 
basement  population,  ib. ;  tenant-honse  im- 
provements, 153 ;  dram-shops  and  their  classi- 
fication, 154 ;  classification  of  slaughter-houses 
by,  155;  improvements  suggested  by,  156:  on 
schools,  churches,  and  medical  charities,  158; 
on  nuisances,  159 ;  on  tho  prevailing  diseases 
of  the  Thirteenth  District,  162. 

New  Orleans,  illustrating  tho  utility  of  a  sani- 
tary police,  cxiv. 

New  iork,  aggregation  of  population  in,  xxxlx. 

Nightingale,  Miss,  her  remarkable  sanitary  re- 
forms in  tho  army,  cxviii. 

Noble,  Dr.  C.  C,  reports  tho  spread  of  small-pox 
from  New  York,  be. 

Nolan,  Dr.  P.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  85;  on  tenant- 
houses,  86;  on  fut-mcltlng  and  hide-curing  in 
crowded  squares,  87 ;  on  diseases  prevailing  in 
tho  Seventh  District,  89 ;  remedial  measures 
suggested  by,  ib. 

Nuisancer,  special,  described,  xcii,  xevi,  exxix;  in 
the  First  Inspection  District,  12;  in  the  Third, 
27;  in  tho  Ninth,  105;  in  tho  Tenth,  118;  in 
the  Thirteenth,  159 ;  in  tho  Sixteenth,  1S5, 198; 
in  the  Twenty-first,  261;  in  the  Twenty -second, 
274:  in  tho  Twenty -fourth,  294;  in  tho  Twen- 
ty-sixth and  Twenty-seventh,  831. 

Offal  Dook,  in  tho  Twenty-first  Inspection  Dis- 
trict, 264. 

Officers  of  Health  required  in  cities,  exxvi; 
their  labors  and  success  in  London,  cxiv. 

Ophthalmia,  in  crowded  tenements,  48,  82  ; 
among  cellar  population,  71 ;  in  tho  Sixth  In- 
spection District,  82 ;  duo  to  vitiated  atmos- 
phere, 129;  to  filthy  streets  and  gutters,  188; 
In  connection  with  dram-shops,  186:  with 
slaughter-houses,  192 ;  with  stables,  192. 

Overcrowding,  of  tho  city,  exxxii;  its  results  il- 
lustrated, cxxxlll ;  of  tenant-bouses,  7,  87,  89, 
62,  6S,  77,  95,  102, 112, 184,  177,  198;  evils  of, 
88,  58,  64,  89,  118,  167,  224;  mortality  In  con- 
nection with,  77 ;  of  human  bolngs  with  do- 
mestic animals,  889,  841;  of  areas,  7.  66,112, 
135, 162, 1S4,  288 ;  of  rail  cars,  141,  208,  841. 

Parsons,  Dr.  K.  L,  Sanitary  Inspector,  208:  on 
filthy  streets,  and  how  they  aro  kept  so,  269 ; 
on  tho  causos  which  render  squares  insalu- 
brious, 270 ;  overcrowding  kills  children,  271 ; 
proposed  method  of  Improving  ventilation  by, 
274;  on  domestic  filth  and  its  consequences, 
278;  roar  tenant-houses  and  fover-nosts,  276 ; 
on  tho  general  character  of  prlvato  dwellings, 
270 ;  filth,  dram-shops,  and  slaughtcr-pons,  277 ; 


INDEX. 


357 


the  Bellevnc  Hospital,  278;  fever  and  epidem- 
ics localized  by,  279;  how  fever  travels,  2S1. 
Palmerston's  advice  on  sanitary  works  against 
cholera,  liii. 

Pavement,  the  Russ,  4, 15, 128 ;  the  Belgian,  4, 15, 
24,  43,  82,  98,  12S,  143,  172,  1S3,  207,  229 ;  ob- 
jections to  the  cobble-stone,  4,  15,  24,  44,  US, 
128,  197,  208,  224,  231;  where  too  uneven  for 
thorough  drainage,  35, 128,  208 ;  neglected  con- 
dition of,  183. 

Peabody,  Mr.,  his  healthy  dwellings  for  the  poor, 
lxxxv. 

Peluam  Corrr.T,  description  of,  105. 
Percy,  Dr.  Samuel  K.,  on  the  food  of  cities,  263. 
Philips,  Mr.  John,  statement  in  regard  to  sewers 
by,  213. 

rmnisis,  as  developed  in  the  abodes  of  the  poor, 
63,  in  tho  Tenth  Inspection  District,  113. 

Piers,  in  the  First  Inspection  District,  12 ;  in  the 
Third,  28;  in  the  Ninth,  105;  intolerable 
stench  from,  72;  as  a  source  of  disease,  29; 
condition  of  the,  adjoining  Catharine  Ferry, 
105. 

Playfaie,  Dr.  Lyon,  his  researches  concerning 
rates  of  sickness  and  mortality,  xli. 

Pneumonia,  prevalent  in  the  vicinity  of  stables, 
•  62 ;  among  the  occupants  of  shanties,  306. 

Police,  Metropolitan,  to  execute  sanitary  regu- 
lations, cxxvii,  cxxxix. 

PoLicv-Snops,  patronage  of,  and  evils  resulting 
therefrom,  40,  58. 

Ponds  of  stagnant  water,  a  source  of  disease,  337, 
346.  347. 

Population,  aggregation  of,  fn  cities,  xxxviii ; 
crowding  and  rate  of,  in  tenant-houses,  lxx- 
lxxv ;  rate  to  the  square  milo  in  Fourth  Ward, 
Ixxi ;  in  the  city  of  New  York,  lxx ;  rate  of  its 
increase,  cxxi;"London,  Liverpool,  and  Man- 
chester, lxxi-lxxii. 

Pp.ince  Albert,  his  plans  of  dwelling  improve- 
ments, lxxxiv. 

Poverty  no  excuse  for  filth,  219. 

Privtes,  abuse  of,  8, 16, 1S9;  neglect  of,  xc;  prox- 
imitv  or,  to  tenant-houses,  8,  89,  48,  80,  111, 
135, 166, 184,  189,  261 ;  insufficient  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  tenants,  39,  105, 189;  neglect 
of  cleaning,  39. 1S5,  261 ;  overflowing  of,  39, 80, 
105,  145, 161,  219,  238;  odor  from,  generating 
fevers,  50;  location  and  kind  of,  in  the  Ninth 
District,  101 ;  the  contents  of,  overflowing  the 
cellar,  151 ;  effluvia  from,  diffused  through  the 
houses,  1S4;  improper  construction  ot^  185; 
occupants  of  rear  houses  the  principal  suffer- 
ers from,  189;  located  in  cellars,  197;  viola- 
tion of  law  in  the  location,  construction,  and 
emptying  of,  198;  neglected,  xci;  should  in 
all  instances  be  connected  with  sewers,  274. 

Peivy  Vaults,  etc.,  neglect  and  insalubrious 
effect  of,  xciv. 

Prostitution,  in  tho  First  Inspection  District, 
10  j  in  the  Third,  20,  37,  40 ;  in  the  Fifth,  67 ; 
in  the  Sixth,  81;  in  tho  Eighth,  96;  in  the 
Ninth,  106;  under  the  guise  of  segar-selling, 
138 ;  in  connection  with  tenant-houses,  26,  37 ; 
should  be  placed  under  legal  and  medical  su- 
pervision, 13S. 

Pulling,  Dr.  E.  It.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  43;  insa- 
lubrious quarters  in  the  Fourth  District,  44; 
classification  of  buildings  by,  45;  description 
of  a  tenant-house  by,  47 ;  "  Gotham  Court," 
49;  submarine  dwellings,  55;  overcrowding, 
the  source  of  the  greatest  sanitary  and  social 
evils,  58;  homes  for  the  poor,  59 ;  food  and 
markets,  59 ;  "  'long-shoro  lobscouse,"  ib.  ; 
fountains  of  disease,  61 ;  on  influence  of  sta- 
bles upon  disease,  62;  children  die  of  fevers, 
63;  infantile  disease  and  mortality,  64 ;  "ten- 
ant-house rot,"  ib. ;  mobs  and  crime,  65. 

PuitnY,  Dr.  J.  \V.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  70 ;  on  ten- 


ant-houses and  their  diseases,  71 ;  statistical 
recapitulation  of  buildings,  72. 

Hag-pickers'  Eow,  description  of,  177. 

Kajlway-cars,  overcrowding  of,  a  cause  of  dis- 
ease, 141,  203;  ventilation  of,  lxxxix. 

Hear  Dwellings,  in  the  First  Inspection  District, 
8;  in  the  Fourth,  48;  in  the  Fifth,  67;  in  the 
Sixth,  80;  in  the  Ninth,  100;  in  the  Tenth, 
112 ;  in  the  Eleventh,  122 ;  in  the  Thirteenth, 
151 ;  in  the  Sixteenth,  1S6;  in  the  Nineteenth, 
224;  in  the  Twentieth,  244 ;  in  the  Twenty- 
first,  257;  in  the  Twenty-second,  274 ;  in  the 
Twenty-third,  2S3;  insalubrity  of,  8,  49,123; 
ventilation  of,  122,  200;  diseases  common  to, 
200 ;  effect  of  residence  in,  upon  the  nursing 
mother,  201 ;  cellars  of,  200,  241 ;  disregard  of 
iiersonal  cleanliness  by  the  occupants  of,  245. 

Reclaimed  Ground,  in  the  First  Inspection  Dis- 
trict, 3;  in  the  Second,  14;  in  the  Third,  21; 
in  the  Fourth,  43;  in  the  Fifth,  70;  in  the 
Sixth,  76;  in  the  Ninth,  97;  in  the  Tenth, 
110;  in  the  Eleventh,  117;  in  the  Thirteenth, 
143;  in  the  Fourteenth,  164;  in  the  Fifteenth, 
170;  in  the  Seventeenth,  196;  in  the  Eigh- 
teenth, 206;  in  the  Nineteenth,  223 ;  in  the 
Twentieth,  228;  in  the  Twenty-second,  270 ; 
in  the  Twenty -third,  2S3 ;  in  the  Twenty- 
sixth  and  Twenty-seventh,  326,  in  the  Twen- 
ty-eighth, 336 ;  material  used  for,  14,  21,97, 
110,  165, 196,  223,  228. 

Recommendations,  of  systematic  medical  inspec- 
tion, lxi ;  of  sanitary  advice,  lxii ;  to  report 
and  remove  localizing  causes  of  disease,  lxvii ; 
to  establish  sanitary  government,  lxvii ;  to  re- 
form tenant-houses,  lxviii. 

Records  of  sanitary  survey,  system  of,  xxvi. 

Registrar-General's  reports,  their  purpose  and 
utility,  cxiv,  exxiv. 

Reid,  Dr.  D.  B.,  illustrations  of  ventilation  by, 
94 ;  exxxiii. 

Report,  on  pestilential  diseases — schedule  for, 
xxviii;  of  the  Council  of  Hygiene,  General, 
xxxvii. 

Remedial  Measures,  proposed,  exxv;  suggested 
by  Dr.  Monell,  13;  by  Dr.  Milspaugh,  17;  by 
Dr.  Warner,  69 ;  by  Dr.  Thorns,  82 ;  by  Dr. 
Nolan,  S9;  by  Dr.  O.  G.  Smith,  105;  by  Dr. 
Acheson,  114;  by  Dr.  Brown,  124;  by  Dr. 
Burrell,  140;  by  Dr.  Newman,  156;  by  Dr. 
Derby,  170  ;  by  Dr.  Ross,  181 ;  by  Dr.  Hunter, 
194 ;  by  Dr.  Furman,  203 ;  by  Dr.  Field,  220  ; 
by  Dr.  Mansfield,  225;  by  Dr.  Janes,  252;  by 
Dr.  Little,  267;  by  Dr.  Stewart,  297;  by  Dr. 
J.  L.  Smith,  323;  by  Drs.  Brush  and  Hadden, 
333 ;  bv  Dr.  Rodenstein,  344 ;  by  Dr.  Farring- 
ton,  347. 

Respiration,  requirements  for  its  healthy  per- 
formance, xc. 

Rheumatism,  contracted  in  damp  cellars  and  base- 
ments, 8,  40,  71,  81, 199. 

Rivtngton  Plaoe,  description  of,  177. 

Rodenstein,  Dr.  L.  A.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  835; 
on  ponds  and  obstructed  watercourses,  337 ; 
on  the  crowding  of  human  beings  and  domes- 
tic animals,  339 ;  on  maladies  and  their  causes, 
341 ;  statistics  of  intermittent  fevers  by,  343. 

Ross,  Dr.  J.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  171;  on  the  sani- 
tary topography  and  formation,  172;  on  the 
evil  effects  of  dirty  streets,  ib;  effect  of  tides 
upon  the  sewers, '173;  on  dwellings,  and  tho 
rate  of  crowding,  ib. ;  tenant-houses,  "dens  of 
death,"  174;  a  model  needed,  ib. ;  on  pestilen- 
tial quarters,  175;  description  of  Rivington 
Place  by,  177;  on  crowd-poisoning  and  typhus, 
179;  typhus  localized,  ISO;  tho  remedy  sug- 
gested by,  181. 

Sahitary  Commission,  tho  TJ.  S.  Army— its  pur- 
poses and  results,  cxviii;  its  statistical  bu- 
reau, exxiv.  • 


358 


INDEX. 


Sanitary  Inqtttry,  plan  and  leading  points  of, 
xxiv ;  subjects  of,  xxvii ;  system  of,  xxvi ;  In- 
spection Districts  and  boundaries,  xxii ;  In- 
spectors, instruction  to,  xxiv;  necessities — 
prospective  of  New  York,  cxix ;  works,  prac- 
tical character  of,  civ ;  described,  cv ;  diseases 
that  show  the  necessity  of,  cv,  cxii ;  necessi- 
ties of  populous  cities,  xxxviii ;  examples  of, 
exiii. 

Sakitabt  Science,  necessity  for  its  practical  ap- 
plications in  cities,  xxxix:  its  value  and  ap- 
plications, cliii. 

Scarlatina,  proximity  of,  to  stables,  27;  prevail- 
ing in  tenant-houses  in  proportion  to  crowd- 
ing, uncleanliness,  eta.  29;  in  the  Fifth  Inspec- 
tion District,  72;  in  the  Tenth,  118;  in  ten- 
ant-houses of  the  Twelfth  District,  139;  in 
the  Fifteenth  District,  179 ;  in  the  Sixteenth, 
183;  in  the  Twentieth,  237,248;  frequent  in 
consequence  of  exposure  in  the  public  schools, 
319. 

Schools,  in  the  First  Inspection  District,  11 ;  in  the 
Second,  17  ;  in  the  Third,  2S,  41 ;  in  the  Fifth, 
72 ;  in  the  Sixth.  81 ;  in  the  Seventh,  89 ;  in 
the  Ninth,  96;  in  the  Eleventh,  125;  in  the 
Twelfth,  133;  in  the  Fifteenth,  173;  in  the 
Sixteenth,  187,  192;  in  the  Seventeenth,  199, 
202;  in  the  Eighteenth,  222 ;  in  the  Nine- 
teenth, 225;  in  the  Twentieth,  241;  in  the 
Twenty-second,  276 ;  badly  arranged  for  ven- 
tilation and  light.  17,  28,  81, 139,  202;  proxim- 
ity of,  to  fever-nests,  41,  82;  to  fat-boiling  es- 
tablishments, 87 ;  faulty  hygiene  in,  202  j  ad- 
joining a  row  of  stables,  225. 

Seaman,  Dr.  Valentine,  his  first  vaccination,  ex. 

Seerell,  James  E.,  improvements  by,  233,257; 
plan  for  saving  the  sewage  and  relieving  the 
slips,  234 

Sewage,  evils  of  emptying  into  the  slips,  23; 
effects  of  the  putrefactive  decomposition  of, 
199 ;  a  plan  proposed  for  6aving  the,  234. 

Sewerage,  of  the  First  Inspection  District,  4; 
of  the  Second,  15;  of  the  Third,  21,  85;  of  the 
Fourth,  48;  of  the  Fifth,  66,  70;  of  the  Sixth, 
77;  of  the  Seventh,  84;  of  the  Eighth,  92;  of 
the  Ninth,  99 ;  of  the  Tenth,  111 ;  of  the  Elev- 
enth, 118;  of  the  Twelfth,  180;  of  the  Thir- 
teenth, 144, 146 ;  of  the  Fourteenth,  165 ;  of 
the  Fifteenth,  173;  of  the  Sixteenth,  188;  of 
the  Seventeenth,  196;  of  the  Nineteenth,  223; 
of  the  Twentieth,  231 ;  of  the  Twenty-first, 
257;  of  the  Twenty-second,  279 ;  of  the  Twen- 
ty-third, 287 ;  of  the  Twenty-fourth,  291 ;  of 
the  Twenty-flfth,  800;  example  of  faulty,  22, 
85, 119;  obstructions  to,  77,  119, 184;  diseases 
influenced  by  imperfect,  77,  99,  119,  804;  how 
affected  by  the  tide,  8,  22, 86, 146, 178 ;  general 
effect  of,  upon  the  public  health,  111 ;  imper- 
fect, in  the  Eleventh  District,  119;  in  the 
Thirteenth,  145;  health  statistics  in  connec- 
tion with,  181 ;  nocessity  for  an  improved  sys- 
tem of,  144 ;  the  original  plan  of,  for  this  city, 
defective,  145 ;  objections  to  the  present  sys- 
tem of,  233;  a  plan  suggested,  284;  advan- 
tages and  economy  of  the  "dirt  catchers," 
2:!.">;  insullicient  ill  the  Twenty-eighth  Dis- 
trict, 839;  of  the  Twenty-ninth,  846. 

Sewers,  flushing  and  cleansing  of,  xcvil ;  build- 
ings imperfectly,  or  not  connected  with,  xcvil, 
6,  15;  the  proper  depth  of,  22;  emanations 
from,  injurious  to  health,  180,  165;  experi- 
ments on  the  lower  animals,  181 ;  escapo  of 
gases  from,  281 ;  causes,  228 ;  inconvenience 
of  cleaning  the,  288;  Mr.  Scrrcll's  plan  for 
constructing,  284. 

Seweb  Oases,  evils  of  Inhaling,  283,  828;  how  to 
prevent  or  destroy,  205. 

Shantieh,  as  affecting  the  public  health,  99;  In 
tho  1  wonty-fourrn  Inspoctlon  District,  292; 
occupants  of,  298 ;  demoralizing  lnlluonco  of, 


293,  294;  the  typical  shanty  described,  800; 
wooden  tenements  distinguished  from,  801 ; 
population  of,  and  their  occupation,  803 ;  mor- 
tality among  infants,  808;  severe  cases  of 
diphtheria  in,  819;  the  floors  of,  should  be 
elevated,  823 ;  in  the  Twenty-eighth  District, 
839 ;  in  the  Twenty -ninth,  846. 

Sinks,  with  no  sewer  connection,  102. 

SLATfGHTEE-Hor/SES,  insalubrious  influence  of,  xci  v; 
in  the  city  injurious,  exxviii ;  in.tho  Fifth  In- 
spection District,  71 ;  in  the  Seventh,  86;  in 
the  Eleventh,  128;  in  the  Twelfth,  13S;  in 
the  Thirteenth,  155;  in  the  Fourteenth,  168; 
in  the  Fifteenth,  175 ;  in  the  Sixteenth,  191 ; 
in  the  Nineteenth,  225;  in  the  Twenty-first, 
2C1 ;  in  the  Twenty-second,  277 ;  inthoTwen- 
ty-tourtb,  294;  in  the  Twenty-fifth,  810;  in 
the  Twenty-eighth,  841;  injurious  to  tho 
public  health,  86,  294;  importance  of  the  re- 
moval of,  to  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  87; 
moral  influence  of,  168,  294;  fllthy  condition 
of,  175 ;  cholera  infantum  in  the  vicinity 
of,  294. 

Sickness-rate,  explained,  xli ;  its  ratio  to  the 
death-rate  stated  and  illustrated,  xli,  xlii ; 
probable  constant  sickness-rate  in  New  York, 
xliii ;  of  Metropolitan  Police  force  stated,  xliii ; 
that  of  New  York  corresponds  with  that  of 
British  cities,  xliii. 

Simon,  Dr.  J.,  special  hygienic  inquiries  by,  exxxv ; 
his  recommendations,  exxxviii. 

Small-pox,  fields  of,  inspected,  etc.,  xxxiv ;  plan  of 
inspections,  and  report  of,  xxxiv ;  epidemic  of, 
in  winter  of  1S65,  liv ;  the  many  foci  of  in  New 
York,  1  v ;  its  prevalence  in  particular  districts, 
lv,  cvii ;  total  mortality  from,  cxi ;  its  preva- 
lence in  connection  with  typhus,  hi ;  its  com- 
plete arrest  by  vaccination,  cx ;  where  preva- 
lent, 29,  68,  63,  89,  96, 106, 180,  819 ;  spread  of, 
through  the  medium  of  junk-shops  and  cloth- 
ing, 61 ;  prevalence  of,  in  tenant-houses,  63, 
189;  traceable  to  newly-arrived  immigrants, 
69;  preventable  nature  of,  88;  progress  of, 
arrested  by  vaccination,  844. 

Smith,  Dr.  J.  L.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  298;  on  the 
streets  of  tho  Twenty-fifth  District,  and  their 
condition,  299 ;  description  of  a  shanty  by,  800 ; 
on  the  classes  and  character  of  the  population 
in  the  Twenty-flfth  District,  808 ;  on  prevent- 
able causes  of  disease  and  death,  803 ;  neglect 
of  local  drainage,  and  faulty  sewerage,  805 ; 
diseases  in  wooden  tenements,  806;  faulty 
drains  and  poisonous  exhalations,  807 ;  on  the 
disposition  of  garbage,  SOS ;  Levitlcal  laws  ot 
personal  hygieno  needed,  809;  on  summer- 
complaint  of  infants  in  the  vicinity  of  fat-boil- 
ing establishments,  etc.,  810;  fearful  results  ot 
inebriety  among  the  poor,  811 ;  on  the  effects 
of  using  unwholesome  articles  of  diet,  812 ; 
liquid  poisons  drank  for  want  of  Croton,  818 ; 
midwifery  among  tho  poor,  814 ;  bad  habits 
and  sickly  places,  815;  sickness  record  of  a 
single  square.  818 ;  the  most  fatal  diseases  pre- 
ventable, 819 ;  cholera  in  tho  vicinity  of  hog- 
Btyos  and  stables,  320 ;  on  tho  havoc  of  cholera 
infantum,  821 ;  on  the  causes  of  cholera  in- 
fantum, 322 ;  romedial  measures  suggested  by, 
823. 

Smith,  Prof.  .TosErn  M.,  report  by,  exxxii,  cxxxill ; 
"  Idlo-nilasni,"  166. 

Smith,  Dr.  O.  G.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  97;  on  the 
condition  of  the  streets  in  the  Ninth  District 
"Is;  <l.  tVcl i v<-  system  of  sewerage  detrimental 
to  public  health,  99 ;  causes  of  Insalubrity,  99 : 
classification  of  buildings,  100;  description  of 
the  tenant-houses  by,  101 ;  their  intlnence  on 
tho  public  health  illustrated  by,  102;  descrip- 
tion of  a  fever-nest  In  Monroe  street  by,  108; 
tho  Polham  street  rookeries,  105;  other  causes 
of  Insalubrity,  106 ;  diseases  and  vital  statistics 


INDEX. 


359 


of  Seventh  Ward,  107;  tho  prevailing  diseases 
localized  by  overcrowding  and  filth,  109. 
Show.  Dr.  E.  M.,  reports  spread  of  small-pox  from 
New  York  to  Providence,  Lxi;  his  remarks 
on,  cxiii. 

Soap  Factories,  unhealthful  influence  of,  191. 

Soil,  its  relations  to  public  hygiene,  ciii ;  where 
favorable  to  drainage  and  public  health,  14,  111, 
128,  228 ;  objectionable,  223. 

Spotted  Fever,  in  connection  with  crowded  apart- 
ments, 37. 

Sprague,  Dr.  Jenks  S.,  his  account  of  small-pox 
contagion  from  city  of  New  York,  lx. 

Spectrum  Analysis,  hygienic  applications  of,  ci. 

Squares  of  the  First  Inspection  District,  5 ;  of  the 
Second,  15;  of  the  Third,  24,  36:  of  the  Fifth, 
67;  of  the  Sixth,  77;  of  the  Seventh,  85;  of 
the  Eighth,  93 ;  of  the  Ninth.  99  ;  of  the  Tenth, 
111;  of  the  Eleventh,  120;  of  the  Twelfth,  181 ; 
of  the  Thirteenth,  147;  of  the  Fourteenth, 
166;  of  the  Fifteenth,  173;  of  the  Sixteenth, 
184;  of  the  Eighteenth,  209;  of  the  Twentieth, 
237;  of  the  Twenty-second,  270 ;  of  the  Twenty- 
fourth,  291 ;  of  tho  Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty- 
seventh,  22S ;  of  the  Twenty-eighth,  339 ;  of 
the  Twenty-ninth,  346;  on  reclaimed  ground, 
15;  causes  of  the  insalubrity  of,  85,  99,  111, 
131,  173,  184,  237,  2G9,  270, 32S ;  two  contrasted, 
100 ;  influenco  of  liquor  stores  and  dram-shops 
on  the  sanitary  condition  of,  120 ;  example  of, 
in  a  mixed  sanitary  condition,  131,  237 ;  rate 
of  crowding,  173, 184. 

Stables,  in  the  First  Inspection  District,  11;  in 
the  Third,  27,  40 ;  in  the  Fourth,  61 ;  in  the 
Fifth,  71 ;  in  the  Sixth,  81 ;  in  the  Seventh, 
87;  in  the  Twelfth,  138;  in  the  Thirteenth, 
116 ;  in  tho  Fifteenth,  174 ;  in  the  Sixteenth, 
192 ;  in  the  Nineteenth,  225 ;  sanitary  care  of, 
recommended,  exxix ;  diphtheria  in  connec- 
tion with,  27,  225;  as  sources  of  insalubrity, 
11,  27,  41,  61,  81, 89;  influence  of,  upon  disease, 
62;  evils  of  confining  horses  in  subterranean, 
138;  effects  of  overcrowding,  upon  horses, 
174;  insalubrious  effects  of,  on  rear  buildings, 
192;  ophthalmia  and  typhus  in  connection 
with,  192. 

Statistics,  of  the  First  Inspection  Disirlct,  13; 
of  the  Second,  18;  of  the  Third,  32.  42;  of  the 
Fourth,  45,  46,  47,  55,  63;  of  the  Fifth,  67,  69, 
72 ;  of  the  Sixth,  71,  78 ;  of  the  Ninth,  100, 104, 
107, 10S;  of  the  Tenth,  112;  of  the  Eleventh, 
125 ;  of  the  Twelfth,  133-135;  of  the  Thirteenth, 
143,  150,  163;  of  the  Fourteenth,  169;  of  the 
Fifteenth,  ISO ;  of  the  Sixteenth,  186, 191 ;  of 
the  Eighteenth,  222 ;  of  the  Twentieth,  241, 
242,  247;  of  the  Twenty -first,  259;  of  crowded 
tenant-houses  in  tho  Twenty-third  District, 
288;  of  the  Twenty-fifth,  802,  318,  321 ;  of  the 
Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty-seventh,  334 ;  of 
the  Twenty-eighth,  343 ;  of  the  Twenty-ninth, 
848 ;  of  disease  required,  exxvi ;  vital,  of  New 
York  City  and  suburbs,  exxi ;  practical  uses 
of,  exxiii,  exxxix. 

Stewart,  Dr.  K.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  291 ;  on  the 
dwellings  of  the  Twenty-fourth  District,  292; 
on  Bqnatter  sovereignty,  immorality,  and  in- 
salubrity, 293  ;  slaughter-houses  and  their 
moral  effects  upon  children,  294;  on  typhoid 
fever  and  places  that  produce  it,  295;  on  swill- 
milk,  296;  remedial  measures  suggested  by, 
297. 

STiLL-BiitTns,  proportion  of,  in  the  Sixth  Ward,  82 ; 
cause3  of,  813 ;  uneducated  midwives,  814 ; 
impatient  physicians,  314. 

Stores,  in  the  First  Inspection  District,  10;  in  the 
Second,  15;  in  the  Third,  26, 38;  In  the  Fourth, 
45;  in  tho  Fifth,  71 ;  in  the  Sixth,  81 ;  in  tho 
Seventh,  86;  in  the  Ninth,  105;  in  the  Tenth, 
112;  in  the  Twelfth,  138;  in  the  Thirteenth, 
154 ;  in  tho  Fourteenth,  167 ;  in  tho  Sixteenth,  | 


1S6;  in  the  Eighteenth,  214 ;  in  the  Twentieth, 
241;  in  the  Twenty-second,  276;  in  the 
Twenty-fourth,  294;  how  they  affect  the  pub- 
lic health,  40, 71. 

Streets,  of  the  First  Inspection  District,  4 ;  of  the 
Second,  15;  of  the  Third,  23,  34;  of  the 
Fourth,  43 ;  of  the  Fifth,  67,  70 ;  of  the  Sixth, 
76;  of  the  Seventh,  85;  of  the  Eighth, 92;  of 
the  Ninth,  98;  of  the  Tenth,  111;  of  the 
Eleventh,  117;  of  the  Twelfth,  128;  of  the 
Thirteenth,  143;  of  the  Fourteenth,  165;  of 
tho  Fifteenth,  172;  of  the  Sixteenth,  182;  of 
the  Seventeenth,  197:  of  the  Eishteenth,  207; 
of  the  Twentieth,  229;  of  the"Twenty-first, 
256;  of  the  Twentv-second,  269 ;  of  the  Twen- 
ty-fourth, 291 ;  of  the  Twenty-fifth,  298;  of  the 
Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty-seventh,  327;  of 
the  Twenty-eighth,  337,  338 ;  of  the  Twenty- 
ninth,  345;  the  cleaning  of,  exxix;  elevations 
of,  22, 143,  182, 195,  229 ;  filthy  condition  of,  5. 
24,  76,  99,  111,  118,  147, 339 ;  insufficient  capa- 
city of,  15,  34;  public  health  affected  by  the 
condition  of,  92,  99,  111,  113,  172,  339;  perni- 
cious effects  of  watering  the,  92,  200,  281 ;  im- 
perfect grading  of,  35, 12S;  dirt  of,  how  com- 
posed, 129, 172 ;  influence  of  moisture  and  the 
sun's  rays  on  the  dirt  of  the,  129 ;  a  hot-bed 
for  the  production  of  noxious  vegetable  mias- 
mata, 130;  importance  of  sweeping  the,  ib. ; 
depositories  for  garbage,  and  evils  resulting 
therefrom,  20S;  never  thoroughly  cleaned  ex- 
cept by  private  enterprise,  234, 

Stutvesant  Farm,  142. 

Swill-milk  Establishments,  263,  296. 

Swine,  pens  for  receiving,  296;  the  raising  of,  a 
source  of  insalubrity  in  the  Twenty-fifth  In- 
spection District,  309. 

Tenant-houses,  sanitary  wants  of,  lxviii ;  total 
number  of,  iri  the  city,  lxix;  aggregation  and 
abuse  of,  in  the  Fourth  Ward,"  lxxi ;  rate  of 
crowding  in,  lxx,  Ixxii ;  number  and  character 
of  new  ones  needed,  exxx ;  duties  of  the 
owners  of,  exxx  ;  system  of,  its  abuses  and 
perils,  lxxix,  lxxxiii ;  improved,  lxxxiv ;  the 
number  unfit  for  dwellings,  exxxiv ;  in  the 
First  Inspection  District,  7  ;  in  the  Second,  15; 
in  the  Third,  25,  3S;  in  the  Fourth,  44;  in  the 
Fifth,  67,  71 :  in  the  Sixth,  77;  in  tho  Eighth, 
94;  in  the  Ninth,  101 ;  in  the  Tenth,  112;  in 
Eleventh,  121  ;  in  the  Twelfth,  134 ;  in  the 
•Thirteenth,  149;  in  the  Fourteenth,  166;  in 
the  Fifteenth,  174 ;  in  the  Sixteenth,  187;  in 
the  Seventeenth,  199 ;  in  the  Eighteenth,  211; 
in  the  Nineteenth,  224;  in  the  Twentieth,  23S; 
in  the  Twenty-first,  257 ;  in  the  Twenty-third, 
2S8 ;  in  the  Twentv-fonrth,  292 ;  in  the  Twen- 
ty fifth,  300 ;  in  the'Twcnty-sixth  and  Twenty- 
seventh,  329;  in  the  Twenty-eighth,  341;  in 
the  Twenty-ninth,  346 ;  modern  construction 
of,  regardless  of  sanitary  laws,  7, 112;  size  of 
apartments  in,  7,  39,  47,  68,  86,  121,  149;  de- 
scription of  improved  tenant-houses,  122, 
153,  204.  260 ;  differ  in  tho  character  of  their 
population,  123;  massing  of,  7, 56,  112,  135, 152, 
184,  238;  where  originally  private  dwellings, 
7,  38,45,  101,  121;  overcrowding  of,  7,  87,  39, 
52,  68,  77,  95,  102,  112,  134,  177,  193;  evils  of 
overcrowding,  33,  58,  64,  69, 118, 167, 224 ;  mor- 
tality in  connection  with  overcrowding,  77 
main  object  of  tho  proprietors  of,  68;  ventila- 
tion of,  7,  25, 47,  6S,  78, 80, 112,  151,  211 ;  means 
of  escape  from,  in  time  of  fire,  80,  134,  190; 
sunlight  excluded  from,  8,  40,  68,  200,  221  j  dis- 
posal of  garbage  and  house-slops  from,  8,  39, 
6S,  80,95,  112,  151,  183.  197;  examples  of  In- 
salubrity in,  8,  39t>  109  ;  never  thoroughly 
cleaned,  40,  48,  67 ;  'flooding  of,  during  heavy 
rains,  8;  effects  exhibited  npon  the  inmates  of, 
9,  48;  tho  tenant  a  slave  to  his  landlord,  58; 
little  hopes  from  temperance  reform  among 


360 


INDEX. 


occupants  of,  222  ;  evils  of  imperfect  house- 
drainage  of,  151;  indifference  of  the  inmates 
of,  to  contagious  diseases,  189 ;  investigation 
needed,  30 ;  the  effects  of  a  residence  in,  upon 
children,  221 ;  defective  drainage  of,  39,  43,  80, 
112,197;  classification  of,  in  the  Fourth  Dis- 
trict, 46 ;  description  of,  in  the  Fourth  Dis- 
trict, 47 ;  personal  habits  of  the  inmates  of,  07 ; 
population  of,  in  the  Sixth  District,  SO ;  need 
of  reform  in  the  construction  of,  114,  153-;  a 
gigantic  system  of  evils,  222;  "The  Great 
Eastern,"  288;  want  of  proper  supervision, 
290 ;  wooden,  300 ;  condition  of,  in  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Inspection  District,  306;  consequence  of 
the  ill  usage  of,  187;  filthy  condition  of  bed- 
ding, clothing,  carpets,  etc.,  in,  detrimental  to 
health,  201;  condition  of  streets  in  front  of,  230. 

Tnosis,  Dr.  W.  F.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  73;  statis- 
tics of  district,  ib. ;  statistics  of  disease  and 
mortality,  74;  medical  topography  by,  75 ;  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Sixth  District  and  their 
homes,  77 ;  a  Sixth  Ward  fever-nest,  7S ;  pros- 
titution in  the  Sixth  Ward,  81;  prevailing 
diseases,  82 ;  popular  education,  S3 ;  epidemics 
and  their  local  causes,  84. 

Tides,  effects  of,  on  cellars  and  basements,  3,  22, 
35, 2S3 ;  a  remedy  suggested,  36 ;  ground  over- 
flowed by,  837. 

Topographical  draughtsman  in  the  sanitary  sur- 
vey, lxvii. 

Topography  of  the  First  Inspection  District,  8 ; 
of  the  6econd,  14;  of  the  Third,  19;  of  the 
Fourth,  42 ;  of  the  Fifth,  66.  77 ;  of  the  Sixth, 
75;  of  the  Seventh,  85:  of  the  Eighth,  91 ;  of 
ihe  Ninth,  97;  of  the  Tenth,  110;  of  the  Elev- 
enth, 117;  of  the  Twelfth,  127;  of  the  Thir- 
teenth, 142;  of  the  Fourteenth,  165;  of  the 
Fifteenth,  171 ;  of  the  Sixteenth,  1 82:  of  the 
Seventeenth,  195;  of  the  Eighteenth,  206 ;  of 
the  Nineteenth,  223;  of  the  Twentieth,  226; 
of  the  Twenty-first,  255;  of  the  Twenty  second, 
268;  of  the  Twenty-third,  2S2;  of  the  Twenty- 
fifth,  29S;  of  the  Twenty-sixth  and  Twentv- 
seventh,  325;  of  the  Twenty-eighth,  885;  of 
the  Twentv-ninth,  844 ;  influence  of,  on  the 
public  health,  8, 23, 84, 92, 98, 148, 171, 182,  228; 
on  drainage,  92 ;  healthful  influence  of,  counter- 
acted by  atmospheric  contaminations,  283. 

Trades,  sanitary  wants  of,  exxvi. 

Typhoid  Feveb.   See  Fever. 

Typhus  Fever.   See  Fever. 

Urinals,  pnblic,  necessary  in  large  cities,141,  exxix. 

Vacant  Lots  in  the  Fourth  Inspection  District, 
59;  in  the  Ninth,  105;  in  the  Twelfth,  189;  in 
the  Sixteenth,  192;  in  the  Nineteenth,  224;  in 
tho  Twentieth,  246  ;  places  for  repositories  for 
ashes,  garbage,  etc.,  192;  open  privies  in,  ib. ; 
dumping-grounds  for  manure,  198 ;  "  Bum- 
mers^ Retreat,"  246. 

Vaccination,  Jenner's  discovery,  liv ;  State  and 
municipal  laws  for,  needed,  1  v ;  when  first  per- 
formed in  New  York,  ex  ;  history  of,  in  Massa- 
chusetts, cxi;  why  defective,  exxxv;  condi- 
tions of  protection  by,  cxxxvl ;  neglect  of,  52, 
106,  251,  819;  a  duty  wo  owe  to  the  surround- 
ing country,  251;  tho  progress  of  small-pox 
arrested  by,  844. 

Van  Couhtlandt  Farm,  142. 

Ventilation,  importance  of,  in  dwellings  and 
school-rooms,  xc;  bow  obstructed  In  tenant- 
house  construction,  xcl ;  compulsory,  rccom-  j 


mended,  exxix;  special,  for  tenant-houses 
exxx ;  of  crowded  dwell  togs,  exxxiv ;  of  tenant- 
houses,  7,  25,  47,  68,  71, 113, 184,  167,  190,  211, 
224,  241,  257,  829 ;  bad  effects  of  the  want  of  in 
commercial  warehouses,  16;  influence  of,  in 
arresting  the  spread  of  typhus,  17;  houses 
vary  as  to  their  facilities  for,  29 ;  deficiency  of, 
in  private  dwellings,  88,  133;  of  "Gotham 
Court,"  52;  of  rear  dwellings,  49,  78,  112, 152, 
244,  245;  of  churches,  81;  of  public  school- 
houses,  28,  81,  87.  202 ;  a  law  needed  to  regu- 
late the  construction  of  buildings  with  regard 
to,  83 ;  in  old-fashioned  private  residences,  94, 
112;  Dr.  l'.ied  on,  94;  Dr.  Harris  on,  95;  of 
halls.  101,  114.  190;  of  dormitories,  108,  121. 
148, 151, 180, 190, 242. 260,  3^9 ;  effect  s  of  a  want 
of,  on  pestilential  disease,  109,  200,  280,  281; 
want  of,  a  cause  of  insalubrity,  118,  257,  271, 
829;  example  of  a  well- ventilated  tenant-house, 
122 ;  cf  stables,  133 ;  the  erection  of  two  many 
rear  buildings  an  obstruction  to,  151, 158;  ex- 
amples of  good,  in  a  tenant-house,  204,  260 ; 
beneficial  effects  of.  in  fevers,  211 ;  defective 
in  basements  and  cellars,  212,  278;  the  power 
of.  to  extinguish  epidemics,  212 ;  no  right  to 
build  houses  without  regard  to,  220;  a  want 
of,  demoralizing,  221,  254 ;  importance  of,  242, 
258;  of  factories,  246;  power  of,  to  neutralize 
contagions  and  infectious  influences,  250;  a 
suggestion  for  the  improment  of,  272. 

Vermin,  in  brothels,  40 ;  in  crowded  tenements,  52. 

Vlele,  General  E.  L.,  on  the  evils  of  imperfect 
drainage,  206 ;  his  report  on  civic  cleanliness, 
xcviii. 

Vital  Statistics,  practical  uses  of.  cxix;  those  of 
New  York  studied  and  tabulated,  exxi; 
should  include  statistics  of  disease  and  of 
health,  exxiii. 

Warner,  Dr.  E.  B.,  Sanitary  Inspector,  66;  on 
topography  and  sewerage,  ib. ;  inhabitants  of 
the  fifth  District,  67 ;  on  tenant-houses,  68 ;  on 
prevailing  diseases,  ib. ;  remedial  measures 
suggested  by,  69;  statistical  recapitulation 
by,  ib. 

Waste-Pipes,  obstructions  of,  146.  1S8,  197,  238; 
escape  of  sewer  gases  through,  232 ;  escape  of 
offensivo  vapor  through,  248 ;  should  bo 
thoroughly  trapped,  252.  273;  improved  plan 
of,  882. 

Water,  insufficient  supply  of,  to  tenant-honses, 
112, 177;  should  be  distributed  to  the  apart- 
ments of  each  family,  189;  Croton,  better  sup- 
ply needed  in  certain  districts,  cix. 

Water-closets,  should  be  substituted  for  sinks, 
etc.,  xcil;  often  obstructed,  89;  filthy  condi- 
tion of,  in  the  Sixth  Inspection  District,  80. 

Water-courses  of  tho  Third  Inspection  District, 
21,  84 ;  of  tho  Sixth,  75 ;  of  the  Twelfth,  127 ; 
of  the  Thirteenth,  148;  of  the  Fifteenth,  171; 
of  the  Seventeenth,  196;  of  the  Eighteenth, 
207,  218 ;  of  the  Nineteenth,  228 ;  of  the  Twen- 
tieth, 228;  of  the  Twenty-first,  256;  of  tho 
Twentv-second,  268;  of  the  Twcnty-tbird,  283 ; 
of  the  Twenty-fourth,  298, 299 ;  of  the  Twenty- 
sixth  and  Twenty-seventh,  826;  of  the  Twenty- 
eighth,  886;  of  the  Twenty-ninth,  846;  ob- 
structions of,  a  source  of  malarial  fevers.  840. 

Watson,  Dr.,  on  tho  effects  of  fresh  air  in  fevers, 
218. 

Zymotic  Diseases,  how  affected  by  sanitary  works, 
cxvlll ;  how  influenced  by  stables,  62. 


Ex  IGtbrtH 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


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